The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

In both their speeches during the swearing-in ceremony Friday morning Prime Minister Hubert Minnis and new Governor General C. A. Smith got some history wrong.

The Prime Minister referred to His Excellency as the eleventh Bahamian Governor General. Then Mr. Smith made the same mistake referring to himself.

Before the Bahamas became independent, the Governor was Sir John Paul. Sir John became the first Governor General on 10 July 1973, the day the Bahamas became independent. He was a colonial Governor out of England and certainly not Bahamian.

In August 1973 Sir Milo Butler became the first Bahamian to ascend to Mount Fitzwilliam as Governor General. He was followed by Sir Gerald Cash, Sir Henry Taylor, Sir Clifford Darling, Sir Orville Turnquest, Dame Ivy Dumont, the Hon. A. D. Hanna, Sir Arthur Foulkes, Dame Marguerite Pindling and now the Hon. C. A. Smith.

That makes Mr. Smith the tenth Bahamian Governor General, not the eleventh. Count them.

CORRECTOR

Nassau,

June 29, 2019.