REMEMBERING SIR LYNDEN ON WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY

By OSWALD T. BROWN

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 22, 2020 — Today would have been the 90^th birthday of the late Sir Lynden Pindling, the first Prime Minister of The Bahamas, whose name  as leader of the Progressive Libera Party (PLP) during the struggle for majority rule in The Bahamas is enshrined in the history of The Bahamas as a Modern Day Moses. Those who were around in the 1960s tend to forget what life  was like in The Bahamas when racism was viciously enforced on the same disgraceful level as in the Southern United States, where it was implemented by law, and the younger generation in The Bahamas simply do not want to be reminded that as late at 1962, Black Bahamians were refused admission to the “whites only” Savoy Theatre of Bay Street and the only Blacks working in banks on Bay Street were as janitors or similar low-level jobs.

At some point in the future, I sincerely hope that the government of The Bahamas would consider adding the birthday of Sir Lynden to the list of public holidays annually observed in The Bahamas. To be sure, the historic election victory by the Progressive Liberal Party – led by Sir Lynden and a Band of Brothers with a similar commitment to bringing about positive political change in the country – on January 10, 1967 is as important a day in the history of The Bahamas as the United States’ Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Following the historic January 10, 1967 election victory, Lynden Pindling became the first black Premier of The Bahamas and subsequently became the first Prime Minister after The Bahamas, a former British colony, became an independent nation on July 10, 1973.

The following New York Times obituary — published on August 27, 2000, on the occasion of Sir Lynden’s death at the age of 70 – provides an insight into the life of this  Bahamian political icon. It was published under the headline: SIR LYNDEN PINDLING, 70, PRIME MINISTER WHO LED BAHAMAS TO INDEPPENDENCE.

“Sir Lynden O. Pindling, the prime minister of the Bahamas for 25 years whose reputation and relationship with the United States were marred by unresolved accusations of protecting drug traffickers, died yesterday at his home in Nassau. He was 70.

The cause was prostate cancer, aides said in a statement.

Mr. Pindling was the prime minister from 1967 to 1992, leading the Bahamas through tremendous change, including the transition from a British colony to independence in 1973. He was defeated in the 1992 election by the current prime minister, Hubert Ingraham. At the time of his defeat, Mr. Pindling had been in office longer than any leader in the Western Hemisphere except Fidel Castro of Cuba.

Yesterday, as radio and television stations in the Bahamas broadcast tributes to Mr. Pindling, Mr. Ingraham called him ”a giant of our times,” according to The Associated Press.

Left unmentioned, however, were allegations involving Mr. Pindling in the 1980’s that political observers in the Bahamas say contributed to his defeat. He was accused of covering up for drug traffickers and of taking bribes as the chairman of the nation’s Hotel Commission. A Bahamian government commission was unable to substantiate any of the claims, but the allegations had pronounced political ramifications.

Mr. Pindling remained a member of the House of Assembly until 1997, when he resigned after 41 years in that legislative body. At the time, he said he was ”less than perfect,” but added that ”when all I did for good is put in the balance against all I did for ill or failed to do at all, I hope that future generations will not find me sorely wanting.”

In 1953, Mr. Pindling helped found the Progressive Liberal Party, a political organization dedicated to overthrowing the mostly white colonial-run United Bahamian Party. Some supporters called him the ”black Moses.”

When Mr. Pindling was first elected prime minister in 1967, he ended a tradition of white minority rule that had been in place for centuries. He devoted his first term in office to securing independence from Britain and used that prestige to win five more elections.

Mr. Pindling spent much of his time working to improve the reputation of his country, but became vulnerable to charges of corruption in 1984, when an official commission set up to investigate drug trafficking in the Bahamas found wide evidence of official corruption in his cabinet and the Bahamian police. The commission eventually cleared Mr. Pindling of any wrongdoing, but said that he and his wife had at least $3.5 million in bank deposits that could not be accounted for.

At the 1987 trial of Carlos Lehder, a founder of the Medellin cocaine cartel in Colombia, prosecutors charged that Mr. Lehder and other drug traffickers had paid at least $5 million to Mr. Pindling for permission to use the Bahamas as a shipment point for cocaine and marijuana bound for the United States.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Having been involved in the struggle for majority rule as a Black Power advocate, the theme song that Mr. Pindling’s used to introduce his first broadcast address on ZNS after the January 10, 1967, election remains an indelible recollection in my mind. It was this recording of EXODUS: https://youtu.be/32YPozK5Y-0