Page 22 Funeral For mer Prime Minister Lynden Pindling, leader of the Bahamas for 25 years, died yesterday from prostate cancer at age 70. Pindling became premier in 1967 when the islands were still a British colony and led the Bahamas to independence in 1973. However, his reputation suffered fro never-proven allegations of bribery and protecting drug traffickers, which clouded the country's relations with the US and contributed to Pindling's defeat in 1992 elections by current Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Radio and television stations broadcast tributes to the longtime leader, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer four years ago.
Funeral arrangements are yet to be announced.
Pindling's policies helped create a large black middle class by broadening educational opportunities for the country's 172,000 people. But the Bahamas also became a major drug-trafficking haven under his tenure, in the late 1970s and 1980s, which critics blamed on government inaction. It won only six of the 40 seats in the National Assembly in the March 1997 elections, when Ingraham gained a second term. A government commission was unable to substantiate any of the claims against Pindling. He told the House of Assembly in 1997, when he resigned to end his 41-year career there, that he was 'less than perfect'.