Arthur Dion "A. D." Hanna (7 March 1928 – 3 August 2021) was a Bahamian politician who served as the eighth governor-general of the Bahamas from 2006 to 2012.

Early life

A. D. Hanna was born on 7 March 1928. His family moved to ''

Hope Town Hope Town is one of the districts of the Bahamas, districts of the Bahamas, on the Abaco Islands, Abaco islands as well as a small village on Elbow Cay, located in Abaco. The area had a population of 458 in 2010. Golf carts are the main mode of ...

'', Elbow Cay, Abaco, Bahamas where his father was a lighthouse keeper for the famous red and white candy-striped lighthouse. Despite the population of Hope Town being predominantly white, as the island was settled by British Loyalists banished from the American colonies after the American Revolution, Hanna attended school and received his education in a one-room schoolhouse like everyone else during this time period. Black, white, or mixed race like Arthur Dion Hanna, no one was refused an education. It cannot be denied that being of mixed race caused his early life to be challenging, as this era was unfortunately fraught with color barriers. From there, he moved to Nassau and became involved in politics.

Political career

Hanna was active in Bahamian politics since the 1950s. As a member of the Progressive Liberal Party, Hanna represented the Ann's Town, Nassau constituency as an MP in the Bahamas'

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

from 1960 to 1992. During this time, Hanna assumed a number of important cabinet posts, including

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

from 1967 to 1984, and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 1973 to 1984. In 1984, Hanna resigned his post as Deputy Prime Minister in protest at the retention by Prime Minister

Sir Lynden Pindling Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, NH, KCMG, PC, JP (22 March 193026 August 2000) was a Bahamian politician who is regarded as the "Father of the Nation" of the Bahamas, having led it to majority rule on 10 January 1967 and to independence on 10 Jul ...

of cabinet colleagues who were heavily criticised by a Royal Commission of Enquiry of that same year. The commission was established to investigate claims of high-level corruption allegedly linked to the flourishing drugs trade of the 1980s. His resignation came within a week of the firing from the Cabinet of

Hubert Ingraham The Right Honourable Hubert Alexander Ingraham, PC (born 4 August 1947) is a Bahamian politician who was Prime Minister of the Bahamas from August 1992 to May 2002 and again from May 2007 to May 2012. He is a member of the Free National Moveme ...

and

Perry Christie Perry Gladstone Christie PC, MP (born 21 August 1943) is a Bahamian former politician who served as Prime Minister of the Bahamas from 2002 to 2007 and from 2012 to 2017. He is the second longest-serving Bahamian elected parliamentarian (behi ...

, who also were said to have taken a strong stand against the presence in the cabinet of ministers tarnished by the commission and who both later served successive terms as Prime Minister. On 1 February 2006, Hanna was appointed

Governor General of the Bahamas The governor-general of the Bahamas is the vice-regal representative of the Bahamian monarch, currently King Charles III, in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The governor-general is appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the prime ...

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

, Queen of Bahamas, on the advice of Prime Minister

. He retired on 14 April 2010 and was succeeded by Sir

Arthur Foulkes Sir Arthur Alexander Foulkes (born 11 May 1928) is a politician who was the ninth governor-general of the Bahamas from 2012 to 2014. Foulkes was elected to the House of Assembly in 1967 and served in the government of Lynden Pindling as Ministe ...

. His daughter Glenys Hanna-Martin became an MP for Englerston. In 2014, the first Legend-class patrol boat of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force was commissioned as HMBS ''Arthur Dion Hanna''. He died on 3 August 2021, at the age of 93.

Honours

*: **

Member of the

Order of the Bahamas The Order of the Bahamas is an honour that can be given by the government of the Bahamas. It was founded in 2016. References * http://laws.bahamas.gov.bs/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/2016/2016-0001/NationalHonoursAct2016_1.pdf Orders, decor ...

(2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanna, Arthur Dion 1928 births 2021 deaths Deputy Prime Ministers of the Bahamas Finance ministers of the Bahamas Government ministers of the Bahamas Governors-General of the Bahamas Members of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas Progressive Liberal Party politicians People from Acklins