Hubert Alexander Minnis, ON (born 16 April 1954) is a Bahamian politician and doctor who served as

Prime Minister of the Bahamas The prime minister of the Bahamas is the head of government of the Bahamas. The prime minister is formally appointed into office by the governor-general of the Bahamas, who represents Charles III, the king of the Bahamas (the Bahamian head of ...

from May 2017 to 16 September 2021. Minnis is the leader of the Free National Movement, the former governing party, and the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for the New Providence constituency of

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Cast ...

. First elected to the legislature in the 2007 election, he succeeded

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 Move ...

as party leader following the party's defeat in the 2012 election. He was dismissed from his leadership role in the FNM in December 2016, and regained the position in April 2017 after much internal conflict within the party. He became prime minister following the victory of his party in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held on 10 May 2017.

Early life, education, and career

Minnis was born in Nassau, New Providence to Rosalie North and Randolph Minnis. He was educated at Our Lady's Primary School, Western Junior and St. Augustine College, Nassau and he also attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. After obtaining his doctor of medicine degree from the

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the ...

and MRCOG from London in 1985, he returned home and began working as a physician at the Princess Margaret Hospital where he served as a consultant and Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and also as Deputy Chief of Staff. Minnis was president of the Medical Association of The Bahamas, member of the Medical Council, chairman of the Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas and an associate lecturer at the University of West Indies in Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has a special interest and dedication to the promotion of Bahamian ownership in the economy and for the redevelopment of traditional Over-the-Hill communities. Minnis was first elected to parliament in May 2007 and was appointed to the cabinet as Minister of Health.

In opposition the first time

Leader of the Opposition: 2012–2016

With only nine members in his delegation, Minnis had a rocky road ahead. His leadership was considered weak and there were several challenges to it. In December 2016, after a vote of non-confidence by seven of the ten sitting members of hi
party
five members went to the Governor General and asked that he be removed from the helm of the FNM; although he remained as the leader of the party,

Loretta Butler-Turner Loretta Butler-Turner is a Bahamian mortician and politician. She was the Leader of the Opposition in the Bahamian Parliament from December 2016 to May 2017. Early life Loretta Butler-Turner was born in Nassau, Bahamas to Rose Marie (née Tay ...

became the official Leader of the Opposition.

2017 general election

As the election approached, the membership of the party at large supported Minnis over the dissenters, all of whom lost their nominations. These members ran as independent candidates during the general election and lost. Minnis and the FNM, under the slogan "It's the People's Time!", defeated the rival

Progressive Liberal Party The Progressive Liberal Party ( abbreviated PLP) is a populist and social liberal party in the Bahamas. Philip Davis is the leader of the party. History The PLP was founded in 1953 by William Cartwright, Cyril Stevenson, and Henry Milton T ...

(PLP) in the general election held on May 10, 2017, winning 35 seats of 39, and Minnis became prime minister.

Prime minister

Minnis was sworn in as prime minister on 12 May 2017 and presented his cabinet on the 15th. He has held the additional portfolio of

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", ...

since November 2020.

Hurricane Dorian

Minnis' greatest challenge was

Hurricane Dorian Hurricane Dorian was an extremely powerful and catastrophic Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, which became the most intense tropical cyclone on record to strike the Bahamas, and tied for strongest landfall in the Atlantic basin. It is also rega ...

in 2019, which killed at least 70 people and devastated several islands.

Foreign Affairs

His government aligned itself with that of the United States in international relations. On Venezuela, he refused to recognize President Nicolas Maduro and supported Juan Guaido, an opposition leader. He and other pro-US Caribbean leaders attended a summit meeting with Donald Trump in March 2019 to define a common policy on the situation in Venezuela and China's "predatory economic practices".

2021 general election

In August 2021, Minnis called a snap election, less than a year before it was due. Although Minnis retained his seat, the FNM lost it in a landslide and he conceded.

In opposition the second time, and retirement

After losing the election, Minnis said he would retire, but would retain the leadership pending a leadership election, which was scheduled for November 2021.

Personal life

Minnis is married to Sybilene Patricia Beneby and is also the father of three children. His son Jamil Minnis is also a medical doctor. According to the declared financial declarations, Hubert Minnis is worth US$14.04 million (2021). US$14.04 million

Honours

National honours

*: **

Member of the

Order of the Nation The Order of the Nation is a Jamaican honour. It is a part of the Jamaican honours system and was instituted in 1973 as the second-highest honour in the country, with the Order of National Hero being the highest honour. The Order of the Nation ...

(ON) (2018)National Honours 2018 Ceremony.
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References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Minnis, Hubert 1954 births Free National Movement politicians Living people Members of the House of Assembly of the Bahamas People from New Providence Prime Ministers of the Bahamas Finance ministers of the Bahamas Health ministers of the Bahamas 21st-century Bahamian politicians