I am deeply saddened by the news of the passing this morning of one
of our nation’s finest sons, my very dear friend, confidante and
political colleague of many years, the Honourable Paul Laurence
Adderley. This is a grave loss for our country, for myself personally,
and for the many thousands of Bahamians whose lives were touched by this
truly remarkable human being and nationalist over the course of his
more than forty years of distinguished service to the Bahamian people.
Mr. Adderley was a man of extraordinary intellectual brilliance. His
accomplishments were legion. Indeed it is quite impossible to overstate
the importance of his many and varied contributions to the development
of our nation.
As the longest serving Attorney-General of the 20th century – a
period spanning some 17 years – Mr. Adderley engineered the transition
of our colonial legal system into a new era of constitutional
sovereignty while overseeing the modernization of our laws in so many
vital areas of national life. In so doing, he also expanded the
judiciary and helped deepen the Rule of Law as the bedrock of our
civilization. As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Adderley was the
primary architect of the nation’s foreign policy in the founding years
of nationhood; a foreign policy based on mutual co-operation and
friendship with our neighbours but always within the context of the
principles of self-determination and sovereign independence. Mr.
Adderley was absolutely determined that The Bahamas, though small,
should preserve its integrity as an independent nation and never allow
itself to be subjugated to any foreign power.
As Minister of National Security, Mr. Adderley was a courageous
warrior against drug-trafficking. He was chiefly responsible for a wide
range of anti-drug trafficking measures, including the OPBAT joint
interdiction operations; the negotiation of mutual legal assistance
treaties; and the introduction of a raft of new laws aimed at curbing
the drug trade and bringing traffickers to the bar of justice.
Concurrently, Mr. Adderley was responsible for sweeping changes to both
the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force aimed
at better equipping them to discharge their law enforcement mandates in
the face of newly emergent crime threats.
As Minister of Education, Mr. Adderly also achieved notable
successes. He introduced a raft of initiatives aimed at raising academic
standards in the public school system. He restricted social promotion
exercises and instituted the BGCSE examination system. He was also
instrumental in expanding the Government’s building programme for new
schools while instituting the Cadet Programme as a means of better
preparing high school students for the transition into responsible life
in the wider community. As Minister of Finance, Mr. Adderley steered the
country through the extremely difficult recessionary years of the very
early 1990’s, insisting on austerity and fiscal discipline as a means of
surviving the crisis. That Mr. Adderley was able to rise to this
challenge while privately battling both cancer and heart disease makes
it even more awe-inspiring. No finer example of patriotic commitment is
to be found in the annals of the modern Bahamas. But even beyond his
immense achievements as a minister of the government from 1972 to 1992,
Paul Adderley will also be remembered as a leader of the Bahamas Bar for
nearly 60 years. He was an advocate of incomparable skill admired by
all his colleagues for the depth of his learning, the thoroughness of
his research and preparation, his powerful intellect, his spellbinding
oratory and, most important of all, his adherence to the highest
standards of ethical propriety in all his professional dealings. He was,
like his father before him, the Hon. A.F. Adderley, a lawyer of truly
legendary standing at the bar.
As a parliamentarian from 1962 to 1967 and then from 1972 to 1997,
Mr. Adderley was always a fiery and meticulously prepared debater,
whether in the House of Assembly or the Senate. Uniquely, he was the
fourth consecutive generation of his family to serve in the Bahamian
legislature, having been preceded by his father, the Hon A.F. Adderley;
and before that, by his grandfather, Wilfred Parliament Adderley; and
earlier still by his great grand-uncle, William Campbell Adderley who
was a member of the House of Assembly more than 130 years ago. Faithful
to this dynastic tradition, Mr. Adderley enlarged upon the
accomplishments of his forebears and always gave an excellent account of
himself in the halls of Parliament. Following his retirement from
frontline politics, Mr. Adderley continued to serve our country in a
variety of ways, most notably as the Co-Chairman of the first
Constitution Commission. Even with all of the foregoing to the credit of
his name, Mr. Adderley regarded his own family as his finest
achievement. He was a family man for whom nothing was more delightful
than the time spent with his devoted wife and daughters.
Finally, it needs be said that Mr. Adderley was the very embodiment
of personal integrity. He was absolutely incorruptible. He was a public
servant of the highest order. And yet he shunned all honours. He refused
to even consider taking a knighthood when it was offered to him and
reacted in the same way whenever any other honour was offered to him
over the years. For Paul Adderley, the greatest honour of all – and the
only one that really mattered – was the opportunity to serve the
Bahamian people to the very best of his ability. And he did precisely
that – with great distinction – for all his adult life. On behalf of the
Government and people of The Bahamas, the Progressive Liberal Party of
which Mr. Adderley was a long and faithful member and a Stalwart
Councillor, on behalf of my wife, Bernadette, and on my own behalf, I
extend deepest condolences to Mr. Adderley’s widow, Lilith, and their
three children, Catherine, Roseanne and Paula. A State Funeral will be
held for Mr. Adderley, details of which will be announced shortly by the
Cabinet Office.
September 19, 2012
myplp.org
