NASSAU, Bahamas, June 17, 2019 — The Cabinet Office officially announced today that Her Excellency, the Governor General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, the Most Honourable Dame Marguerite Pindling, ON, GCMG, will be demitting office on June 28, 2019.
Dame Marguerite, who has served as Governor General from July 8, 2014, returned from a visit to London on Thursday, June 13, where she officially informed Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II that she will be “relinquishing her appointment as Governor-General” during an audience with the Queen.
In an unprecedented faux pas, Mr. Smith announced during a party several weeks ago in Freeport that he was resigning as the non-resident ambassador to Panama to become the next Governor General. This diplomatic snafu was an embarrassing breach of protocol, for which Mr Smith later apologize.
Today’s announcement by the Cabinet Office, however, has made it official that the “Honourable Cornelius A. Smith will be appointed as the next Governor General of The Bahamas with effect from 28th June 2019.”
“Mr. Smith is a committed civic-minded individual who has, for more than half a century, provided leadership to the Bahamian community and social and civic organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis and Rotary organizations,” the Cabinet statement said.
Mr. Smith is a former Bahamas Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) and Non-Resident Ambassador to Mexico, Malaysia and Columbia. Mr. Smith presently serves as The Bahamas’ Non-Resident Ambassador to six Central American countries.
A community and political activist, Mr. Smith first entered front-line politics in the early seventies and is a founding member of the governing Free National Movement. He was elected as an Opposition Member of Parliament for the Marco City constituency in 1982. In 1987, the constituency name was changed to Pineridge, and Mr. Smith was re-elected to serve this constituency for four consecutive five-year terms from 1982 to 2002.
From 1982 to 1992, he served as Opposition spokesperson on Education, Public Safety and Tourism matters. He also served as a member of the House Select Committee on Illicit Drug Trafficking Within and Through The Bahamas and on the Constituency Boundaries Commission.
In 1992 and 1997, the FNM was elected the governing party of The Bahamas and Mr. Smith was appointed to serve in the Cabinet as Minister of Education, Minister of Public Safety and Immigration, Minister of Tourism, and Minister of Transport and Local Government
He is the 10th Bahamian to hold the office of Governor General. Mr. Smith is married to the former Clara Elizabeth Knowles and the couple has three children
