Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling

Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling 1930-2000, prime minister of the Bahamas (1967-92). The son of a policeman, he received a law degree (1952) from London Univ. As leader of the Progressive Liberal party, he represented the large black majority in the Bahamas and became the country's first prime minister of African descent when his party won a close, but surprising, victory (1967); in elections the next year his party won by a solid majority, and its position in power was subsequently reaffirmed. As prime minister, he emphasized public aid to education and the continued attraction of foreign investment, international banking, and tourism. He led his country to independence within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1973. Despite investigations into possible links between Pindling and the drug trade and into bribe-taking allegations during the 1980s, he remained popular for many years. He was knighted in 1983.

Pindling, Sir Lynden Oscar, see Bahamas

Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Made a British colony in 1717, the archipelago of around 700 islands lies south-east of Florida. For centuries domestic politics was largely determined by the merchant elite of its capital, Nassau, until the introduction of male suffrage with property qualifications in 1959. The vote was extended to women (1962), and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) under Lynden Oscar Pindling (b. 1930) proceeded to win the first general elections held under universal suffrage. The colony gained internal self-government in 1964, becoming fully independent on 10 July 1973. In the 1980s, Pindling and the PLP were involved in a number of corruption scandals including allegations of involvement in the drugs trade. Furthermore, Pindling (who was knighted in 1983) tried to spend his way out of an economic recession, which forced him to take on a massive foreign debt. As a result, he lost the 1992 elections to Hubert Ingraham of the conservative Free National Movement (FNM). In 2001, the country imposed tougher rules on its financial services sector to reduce the incidence of money-laundering, hence the country continued to be heavily reliant on tourism to make up for its trade deficit.