Lynden Pindling
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The Right Honourable Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling ( 22 March 1930-26 August 2000) served as the first black Premier of the Colony of the Bahama Islands, 1967-1973 and as Prime Minister of the Bahamas, 1973-1992, as leader of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). He was also a Privy Councilor and knighted by the Queen in 1983.
A lawyer by profession, he held a law degree from the University of London (1952). In 1953 he was both a Barrister of the Middle Temple and an attorney of the Bahamas Bar.
Pindling led the Bahamas to black majority rule in 1967 and Independence in 1973. Called the 'Black Moses', his later years were marked by controversy and accusations of corruption and involvement in drug trafficking. He died on 26 August 2000 after a prolonged battle with Prostate Cancer.
He was the longest elected leader in the Western Hemisphere in 1992 when the PLP lost its first election in 25 years. Pindling conceded defeat with the words "the people of this great little democracy have spoken in a most dignified and eloquent manner, and 'the voice of the people, is the voice of God'".
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