WASHINGTON, D.C., June 8, 2019 — Enough can never be said about the exceptional artistic talent of Jamaal Rolle, whose work is getting the kind of recognition that at some point in the future will secure him a permanent place in a museum reserved for the world’s greatest artists. Obviously, the Hon. Dionisio D’Aguilar, Minister of Tourism and Aviation, and members of the Ministry’s executive team, in some respects, share this point of view.
During a courtesy call on Her Excellency the Most Hon. Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor General, on May 27, 2019, the Minister presented Her Excellency with portrait of her painted by Jamaal Rolle as a token of appreciation for the Governor General’s support given to the Ministry of Tourism’s People-to-People programme and various initiatives over the years.
Among the many accolades being paid to Dame Marguerite as she prepares to demit office — having established a new paradigm of performance excellence for future Governors General since she became the representative of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in The Bahamas on July 8, 2014 — a portrait painted by Jamaal Rolle, known as the “Celebrity Artist,” is indeed very appropriate.
Dame Marguerite, who was the 10th Governor General in an independent Bahamas, was already a well-established “celebrity” before she moved into the official residence of the Governor General at Mount Fitzwilliam as a result of her personal contributions to the struggle for majority rule in the 1960s and her unwavering “stand by your man” commitment as the wife of Lynden O. Pindling, one of the leaders of the struggle for majority rule, who became Premier of the first predominantly black government of The Bahamas following the Progressive Liberal Party historic election victory on January 10, 1967, and subsequently the first Prime Minister of The Bahamas in 1973, after the country became an independent nation.
When she demits office later this month, however, Dame Marguerite unquestionably would have indelibly stamped her name in record book as one of the greatest Governors General in the history of The Bahamas.
(NOTE: Written by Oswald T. Brown)
