The Right Honourable Perry G. Christie, M.P.
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
The Rt. Hon. Perry Gladstone Christie was born in Nassau on August 21st, 1943 to Gladstone L. Christie, a taxi driver and Naomi Christie nee Allen, a nurse. He grew up and was raised in the area of New Providence known as The Valley. He attended the Government High School but was later expelled, a critical turning point in his development as he committed himself to academic excellence, studying under the care of D. W. Davis. He went on to read law at University of London
Political Highlights: The Right Honourable Perry Gladstone Christie was sworn in as the third Prime Minister of an independent Bahamas May 03, 2002, following his Progressive Liberal Party’s triumph over the Free National Movement in a general election a day earlier. Official returns gave the former Opposition Leader’s party 29 of the 40 House of Assembly seats that were at stake. The FNM, which had governed The Bahamas for nearly a decade under Prime Minister Hubert A. Ingraham, won six seats.
Mr. Christie, is believed to have been the youngest Bahamian ever appointed to the Senate. Named Senator by Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Sir Lynden Pindling in November, 1974, Mr. Christie served in that capacity until June, 1977. In January of the latter year he was appointed chairman of the Gaming Board, which regulates casinos in The Bahamas. Receiving the PLP’s nomination for the Centreville constituency in the 1977 general election, Mr. Christie was elected Member of Parliament for that constituency, and shortly after appointed Minister of Health and National Insurance. During the June, 1982, general election, he was re-elected Member of Parliament for Centreville, and was once again appointed to the Prime Minister’s Cabinet, but as Minister of Tourism. A dynamic Minister, Mr. Christie moved tourism in The Bahamas to new heights. In 1984, however, he was dismissed from the Cabinet, and during the 1987 general election ran as an independent candidate. He retained his seat in the Centreville constituency. Three years later – in March, 1990 – Mr. Christie returned to the fold of the Progressive Liberal Party, and was appointed Minister of Agriculture, Trade and Industry by the Prime Minister. Mr. Christie’s ministerial responsibilities included the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Industry; mining, geological surveys, petroleum, fuel, oils and petrochemicals, industries encouragement, manufacturing, relations with The Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation, relations with The Bahamas National Trust, Andros reef and blue holes, and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Co-operatives.
In January, 1993, following the PLP’s defeat in the August, 1992, general election, Mr. Christie was elected Co-deputy leader of the PLP with responsibility for party activities outside parliament. Victorious in the newly created Farm Road constituency in the general election, he was appointed Leader of the Opposition by the Governor-General on April 07, 1997. He had been elected leader of the PLP at a special convention on April 05. Mr. Christie thus succeeded the late Rt. Hon. Sir Lynden Pindling, M.P., who had led the PLP since 1956 as both Leader of the Opposition and leader of the party.
Education: He attended the Eastern Senior School in New Providence, the University Tutorial College, London, Inner Temple and Birmingham University, from which he graduated with honours in 1969.
Civics/Social: He is a founding member of the Valley Boys, an organisation noted for its entries in the annual Junkanoo parades, and of the Pioneers Sporting Club.
Mr. Christie’s athletic skills developed as a member of the Pioneers, and led to his representing The Bahamas at the 1960 West Indies Federation Games in Kingston, Jamaica, and at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Kingston in 1962, when he won a bronze medal in the triple jump.
Professional/Career: Mr. Christie is an Attorney-At-Law.