Congratulations to Hon. Dr. Hubert A. Minnis, who unopposed, was unanimously elected today as THE NEW LEADER OF THE FREE NATIONAL MOVEMENT PARTY!!

"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the equality of his actions and the integrity of his intent." Douglas McCarther

​So, who is Dr. Hubert Alexander Minnis, …

.......Affectionately known as “Doc”? He is the Member of Parliament for the Killarney Constituency in Nassau Bahamas and leader of the Free National Movement, the opposition party in The Bahamas. A medical doctor by profession, a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, a longstanding Saxons bell ringer in Junkanoo, the proud father of three sons including a medical doctor, a former tailor specializing in pants, a former Bain Town shoeshine and newspaper boy, a keen businessman, a competitive fisherman, and much, much more…

Doc was born in Bain Town to Rosalie North, a struggling seamstress, and Randolph (R.J.) Minnis, the proprietor of well-known Minnis Service Station on Market Street. ​

He was educated in Nassau at Our Lady’s Primary School, Western Junior, and St. Augustine’s College. Doc’s private schooling was a great financial sacrifice for his family. Growing up poor in Bain Town, Dr. Minnis always had to work after school to support his studies. In addition to selling newspapers and shining shoes, during high school he worked as a tailor until 1971, the year that he graduated from St. Augustine’s. He became a tailor by chance - three teenagers grew up and hung out together – Doc, Anthony (Tony) Moss, and Charles (Charlie) Bain who just happened to be a tailor. So Doc followed his childhood friend Charlie Bain and learned sewing from him (although he had already been exposed to the trade by his mother, a seamstress). ​

Dr. Minnis says, “I was always business minded, even as a young high school student.” As a teenage tailor, he took 1½ hours to sew a pair of pants and was paid $3.00. However, it took 3 whole days to sew a coat for just $4.00 – only $1 more. Therefore, with a shrewd business mind, he never had any interest in making and in fact never actually learned how to make coats as they were not as financially rewarding as pants. Who knew at the time that these sewing skills would perhaps help make him a better surgeon later on in life?

Doc says with a big smile that he liked shining shoes as a teenage businessman. Why? Because he made more money shining shoes than doing anything else. He also worked at his Dad’s service station pumping gas and patching tyres. In fact, he wanted to drop out of high school when he was in the third form - he wanted to go to Freeport to work there. Back then, the Freeport economy was booming and many jobs were being offered. At the time, he felt that his education was too expensive and was a burden on his family. But his mother, being a strong, no-nonsense Bain Town woman, insisted that he stay in school and that he would be the first in her family to go to college. It would turn out as she wished – he was the first person in her family to get a college education.

Dr. Minnis openly and proudly credits several people with being strong positive influences in his life when he was growing up. Vince Ferguson, a PE teacher and the Dean of St. Augustine’s College (who later became the Headmaster of Aquinas College), was a strict disciplinarian who drilled his students in knowing right from wrong. In particular, Mr. Ferguson taught his students how to focus – a skill that would greatly benefit Doc later in life as a college student, medical student, doctor, and businessman. Dr. Minnis stresses that Mr. Ferguson taught his students to respect others at all times – a value that he will cherish his entire life. ​

Father Theophilus, Doc’s Latin teacher and another Dean at St. Augustine’s College, was another influential force in his life. Father Theophilus taught Doc the importance of honesty and again, respect for others and the need to focus, if one were to succeed in life.

Growing up “over the hill”, from an early age Doc rushed with John “Chippie” Chipman. Doc explains that back then, junkanoo was very different from what it is now. Then, participants would rush from over the hill to Bay Street, spectators would wake up as the junkanoo passed their homes, join the parade, and rush behind the growing crowd. Then everyone would rush back over the hill to return home. Doc only took breaks from junkanoo when he was away from The Bahamas in school. He joined the Saxons in about 1990 and has rushed with them ever since as a “beller” or a bell ringer.

When it came time for Doc to fulfill his mother’s dream of him being the first person in her family to go to college, he spent his first year of college in St. Thomas College in Minnesota before transferring to the University of Minnesota. There he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology. At the University of Minnesota, Dr. Minnis was influenced by Professor Coleman, a nuclear physicist for whom Dr. Minnis worked on experiments on the breakdown of atoms. Again, he had to work to help pay for his studies. Doc credits Professor Coleman with making learning physics and about the universe easy, exciting, and thought provoking. ​

Dr. Minnis became a medical doctor not by choice, but through a compromise with his Bain Town mother, Rosalie North. (And everyone knows, you don’t argue with a Bain Town woman – they make even the devil run!). He actually wanted to become a marine biologist, not a doctor, because he thought that the future of the world was with a true understanding of the nature, mysteries, movement, and creatures of the sea. This is a belief that he still holds today. However, his mother and his sister (both now deceased) wanted him to apply to medical school. ​

When Doc applied for graduate studies in marine biology, he didn’t immediately hear back from the school. As a compromise, he agreed to temporarily go to medical school to satisfy his mother but on the clear understanding that the moment he was accepted into graduate school for marine biology, he would drop out of medical school. Initially, Doc had a fear of medical school because his high school teachers had always told him that medical school was so very difficult. As fate would have it, Doc never heard from the marine biology school, and the rest is history. Doc says that from day one in medical school, he worked exceptionally hard, keeping in mind what his high school teachers had told him about how difficult medical school was. However, given the ability to focus and concentrate taught to him by Vince Ferguson and Father Theophilus at St. Augustine’s College, medical school turned out to be easier than he had originally imagined.

After obtaining his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of the West Indies and his medical specialization MRCOG (Member of Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology) from London in 1985, Dr. Minnis returned to Nassau and worked at the Princess Margaret Hospital. Doc estimates that over the past 22 years in practice, he has delivered in excess of 5,000 babies – the largest baby (a boy) being 14 lbs at birth! Dr. Minnis says that he has truly enjoyed his career when he has had excellent results – giving good medical diagnosis, delivering healthy babies, and saving lives. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t enjoy medical complications – as with most doctors, he takes them personally. If sadly a patient dies through no fault of his, he tends to blame himself.

In addition to working at the PMH and having a busy private practice, Dr. Minnis is a former President of the Medical Association of The Bahamas, a Member of the Medical Council, the Chairman of the Hotel Corporation of The Bahamas, and an associate lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Dr. Minnis run as a politician for the Free National Movement in The Bahamas for the first time in 2007. He says, “I have accomplished most of what I wanted to accomplish in medicine. I have trained younger doctors, and now it’s their time to take over. Everything in life is about timing. I want to continue to be of service, but now just in a different capacity.”

His vision for the future of The Bahamas is to see small businessmen excel and at the same time for the government of The Bahamas to engage in more strategic planning for preparing our young people for the future. He hopes that the future will offer more opportunities for young Bahamians in small businesses. “More young Bahamians must be true owners as opposed to just workers or employees. Sixty percent of employment in The Bahamas comes from small businesses, but small businesses are ignored.” Dr. Minnis’s fears for the future of The Bahamas are that we will remain too dependent on tourism with insufficient agriculture and that we will remain unable to feed ourselves.

Dr. Minnis has always been a strong FNM. However, in 1984 during the Commission of Enquiry, his political views were strengthened. He was away in university at the time and closely followed the Commission of Enquiry through the newspapers and was disappointed and embarrassed by the events that were revealed during the Commission.

After he won his seat as Killarney's Member of Parliament in 2007, Dr. Minnis was given the position of Minister of Health in The Commonwealth of the Bahamas, a position which he held throughout the five (5) period of the FNM's reign between 2007-2012. His performance was steller and he was an excellent and well-loved representative for the Bahamas, both locally and abroad. In addition to his ministerial duties, he became the most popular Member of Parliament in the country by utilizing the technological tools of the 21st to communicate with the residents of Killarney. Along with his team, he literally transformed Killarney into a model constituency in The Bahamas and brought parliamentary respresenation to higher level.

Dr. Minnis has a son, Jamil, who is a medical doctor by profession. Like his father, Jamil specialized in OB Gyn and additionally fertility. Dr. Minnis openly admits that he actually discouraged his son from going to medical school as he had hoped that would go to business school. “His decision to go to medical school is completely his independent decision. He was not pressured to go to medical school by me,” Dr. Minnis adamantly states.

He is a news junkie and enjoys reading newspapers and magazines on international events. Dr. Minnis worships at Resurrection Catholic Church. He is married to the former Patricia Beneby and is the father of 3 sons: Tremaine, Jamil, and Runako.