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Sir Arthur Dion Hanna

1928 – 2021

Bahamian politician who served as the seventh Governor-General of the Bahamas from 2006 to 2012.

Call 1955, Inner Temple

Born on 7 March 1928 to a lighthouse keeper at Hope Town, Abaco Arthur Dion Hann attended the Government School in Nassau. He continued his education in the UK at Bristol University where he obtained his LLB. He was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1953 and called to the Bar in 1955. In 1955 he moved back to the Bahamas where he was admitted to the Bahamas Bar as counsel and attorney. 

Always committed to the principles of equality, justice and social change he soon joined the Progressive Liberal Party and devoted his life to politics. Representing the Ann’s Town Nassau constituency as an MP in the Bahamas House of Assembly from 1960 – 62. He helped to form the first majority rule government becoming Deputy Prime Minister from 1967 to 1984 and Minister of Finance from 1973 – 1984. He is the architect of bahamianzation, a policy which placed Bahamians first. As the Union Jack was replaced by the Bahamian standard during the Independence ceremony July 10, 1973, at Clifford Park, he told a friend,

I myself had only one major political aim and that was to assist this country achieve complete sovereignty. Everything I did or said was to this end.

In 2006 he was appointed the seventh Governor General of the Bahamas and served until 2012. 

His recent death on 3 August 2021 prompted the current Prime Minister DR Hubert Minnis to issue the following statement remembering him as,

a fierce patriot who loved his Bahamas with unrelenting devotion, courage and passion. He gave his life to the Bahamian people in the struggle of majority rule and independence…  he is a founding father of the modern Bahamas who fought for equality and social justice throughout his long life. Many of our national institutions and progressive national politics bear the hallmarks of his advocacy for Bahamianization.

His life was devoted to equality and social justice.

Dominic Carrington