C A Smith Takes Up The New Job

The New Governor General is former teacher and policeman Cornelius Alvin Smith. He was born in Snow Hill, Long Island and spent a career in teaching in Grand Bahama, then as a human resources manager for the former Syntex Chemical Company in Freeport, followed by twenty years in the House of Assembly.
The new Governor General has served the people of The Bahamas as a senior Minister with the portfolios of Minister of Education (1992-1995), Minister of Public Safety and Immigration (1995-1997), Minister of Tourism (1997-2000) and Minister of Transport and Local Government (2000-2002).

He was appointed The Bahamas Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America on Monday, 24 September 2007. He has served as Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States; and as Non-Resident Ambassador to Mexico, Malaysia and Columbia; and Non-Resident Ambassador to Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

He is married to the former Clara Elizabeth Knowles, and the couple has three children.

Congratulations to the new Governor General. He promised to be Governor General for all Bahamians, despite his Free National Movement antecedents. He took the oath of office in the public square on 28th June 2019. He succeeds Dame Marguerite Pindling. The photo shows him being invested with the sash and medals of the Order of the Nation, conferring the title of Most Honourable upon him by Chief Justice Brian Moree. Tribune photo by Terrell Carey Sr.