Another Caribbean Country Makes Move To Cut Ties With Its Colonial Past

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Thurs. Aug. 12, 2021: Yet another Caribbean government is moving to cut ties with its British colonial past.

The Bahamas government says it will replace the portrait of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on the Bahamian 100-dollar (One Bahamian dollar=US$1.00 cents) bill.

The Queen will be replaced with the image of the country’s former governor general, Arthur Dion “A.D.” Hanna, who died last week at the age of 93.

Hanna, a former deputy prime minister and Cabinet minister in the Pindling years, was instrumental in the attainment of majority rule and independence. He served as Governor-General of the Bahamas from 2006 to 2012 and died in his home last week.

“A new 100-dollar bill bearing the face of A.D. Hanna replacing the queen will commence and be officially in The Bahamas,” Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis said, as he paid tribute to the former head of state.

His announcement was supported by Opposition Leader Philip Brave Davis and Hanna’s family, who in a statement said “our father would have been humbled and reluctant to be the recipient of such an honor.

“His service was above self. He was unequivocal in his belief that no Bahamian should be as interlopers at home or abroad in the common quest. We thank the people of The Bahamas for allowing A.D. Hanna to serve. We thank the government for recognizing his contribution to the birth and development of the Bahamian nation,” the family said in the statement.

Barbados last November removed the statue of British Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson from its capital city’s main square this week, two months after announcing plans to replace Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as its head of state. And anti-colonial activists in France’s overseas territory of Martinique last June, tore down two statues of colonial-era figures, including Joséphine de Beauharnais, the wife of French emperor Napoleon.

Meanwhile, Jamaica has announced plans to ask Britain for compensation for the Atlantic slave trade in the former British colony, a senior government official said, under a petition that could seek billions of pounds in reparations.

Jamaica was a center of the slave trade, with the Spanish, then the British, forcibly transporting Africans to work on plantations of sugar cane, bananas and other crops that created fortunes for many of their owners.