CHIEF JUSTICE’S FUNERAL

7 September 2018

Christ Church Cathedral

Nassau, The Bahamas

Photos By Peter Ramsay of the Bahamas Information Services

For the first time in living memory a sitting Chief Justice has died. Stephen Issacs had barely been in the job two weeks before his demise. There was a state funeral for him and the full pageantry was laid out for his funeral with all the officers of the state including the Governor General Most Honourable Dame Marguerite Pindling, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis and the Cabinet, the full Parliament, the Judiciary and he uniformed services.  The question now is who will succeed him. Vera Watkins is the Acting Chief Justice, but turns 65 on 24 September.  If she is to stay on for another two years, the Prime Minister will have to invite her to stay before 65 and then confirm her in the job.  There are plenty vying for it including now Attorney General Carl Bethel, Brian Moree Q.C., and Jon Isaacs, who sits on the Court of Appeal.  Most people think that the best choice in the long term is Justice Ian Winder.

Let’s hope the Prime Minister doesn’t take his time like with Stephen Issacs, making up his mind while the man was on his deathbed.