SALUTATIONS…
During the present decade and beyond, The Bahamas will experience many economic and social changes which will impact our lives and have a tremendous effect on Tourism, Banking and even how the Government conducts our affairs.

It is after taking a long and realistic look at this situation, that the Government of The Bahamas saw the need for many trained lawyers and took the position that the time to begin training them is now, not necessarily as we know lawyers who work in our court system, but trained legal minds; attorneys who will perform a myriad of functions in the fiduciary areas of Banking and Trust services, the axis around which our number two industry turns. Moreover, the Government’s thinking was that if it were going to meet its needs in a timely manner, the training should be done here at home.

And of course, when one considers the many conveniences of studying at home, especially not having to separate families, the Government was correct in requiring that this Programme be offered in The Bahamas.  In any case, we were given the mandate to initiate this exercise in March of 2000, and asked to start the Programme by September that same year.

I must tell you that the task of getting even to September 2000 was nothing less than Herculean, not in an academic sense, not even in terms of real logistics, but just in the exercise of overcoming the challenge of bringing together two aggressively conscientious organizations: One well established, steeped in its traditions and very protective of its standards and valuable accomplishments the other relatively new on the block of Academia, but ambitious and eager to get where it feels it needs to be.

In addition, we were faced with the concerns of some of our administrators here at COB, pertaining to the management of our limited resources. For example, at the very start of our efforts we incurred expenses of over $I, 000, 000. (ONE MILLION DOLLARS).  Along with our mandate from the Government came some funding, but that was not sufficient to cover the enormous costs we incurred.  In addition, there were those who felt that this undertaking would be at the peril of some of our other programmes here at The College. Why put so much of our resources into this one programme? was the question.

There was considerable merit to these concerns and as President of The College, I understood and appreciated those merits. However, at the end of the day, some members of the administration and I felt that we should facilitate this need.  Afterall, it was envisioned by very responsible, professional leaders in the public and private sectors of our society. They deemed this particular discipline one of the imperatives of economic and social development of our country for the next five years and beyond. That being the case, it was unquestionably the responsibility of The College of The Bahamas to make it happen.

I happen to believe that this view is shared by others in our community.  Indeed, I believe that it is this approach to tertiary education, which over the years, has kept many institutions on the cutting edge of change and development.

The LL.B. degree Programme offered by The College of The Bahamas and The University of The West Indies has two profound purposes for our country. The first, to put in place a cadre of well-trained attorneys and barristers, equipped to command a variety of positions within Corporate Bahamas. The second, to stimulate a new and more vibrant atmosphere of scholarship, with emphasis on the liberal arts.
While coming together was initially cumbersome, we have worked together to make tonight a reality.  As a result of this and other relationships, I am of the opinion that we in the Caribbean need to form more partnerships, if only to soften the challenges of working together when we have opportunities for collaboration. Furthermore, the success of this Programme emphasizes the importance of cooperation between institutions of the Caribbean, as we move towards globalization.

When we look at the genesis of our existence as a people, our history and even the various cultures, there are some things we do differently. But for the most part, our differences are cosmetic and they really do not go deep enough to prevent us from collaborating and cooperating with one another for the benefit of the region, and the good of our peoples. In fact, I believe that limited research will reveal that we are the same people.

From a purely economic point of view, I am aware of the mutual benefits in forming partnerships with sister institutions in the region, as we have done with this and other programmes with UWI.  I believe that those of you graduating this evening also see the wisdom of regional collaboration, cooperation and partnership.

Perhaps this is an appropriate point to formally congratulate you, the first graduates of The College of The Bahamas (COB) and The University of The West Indies (UWI) LL.B. Degree Programme. My colleagues in administration, along with the faculty and staff of The College of The Bahamas join me in applauding you.

You may justifiably take pride in the fact that you are part of a history-making event this evening, but also, you should be ever mindful of those dedicated persons at COB and UWI who laboured unceasingly, in the face of many challenges, to ensure the success of this Programme.

Of course, the most meaningful expression of gratitude to the persons responsible for pioneering this Programme would be seen by the way you use your law degree. You have the option of using your degree to amass valuables, excessive sums of money and all of the material goods and lifestyles it will buy, or you can use your degree to promote and maintain good, sound  values in our society.  You can influence the way our laws are written and administered, always bearing in mind that the Law is established for the benefit of man and not man for the benefit of the law.

As a result of establishing lofty values and accordingly maintaining high standards and through our partnership with The University of the West Indies, you have been prepared to make worthy contributions to national development.

For our part, we shall continue to take pride in deepening and extending our contributions to national development by educating and training Bahamians.

Thank you.