The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I have been reading with more than slight interest the catfight that certain media interests are trying to stimulate between the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Hubert Minnis and his Deputy, Loretta Butler-Turner.

One observer critic said that Mr Minnis learnt his political leadership skills from the Prime Minister, Mr Perry Christie.

That was too unkind, no leader of any modern organisation can compare to Mr Christie at this stage of his career. His administration will probably go down in history as the most inept, most indecisive, most crony friendly than any in our modern history.

It’s really unfair to Dr Minnis who to some observers is taking control of his party, lining up his advisors and getting ready to be the next government of the Bahamas.

In the past five weeks, on issue after issue, he has forced the Prime Minister to retreat and in some cases almost apologise. Mr Christie looked totally flummoxed when the leader of the Opposition indicated that he was withdrawing his support for the enabling legislation for the Referendum.

Mr Christie cried foul, but Dr Minnis said he was not prepared to support the batch of poorly drafted and poorly presented legislation that was almost totally incomprehensible to the man in the street.

Dr Minnis said “rewind and come again” and now the legislation that will probably succeed in the House now seems to have the unanimity that the Prime Minister was craving. He went so far as to say “I commend the leader of the opposition and his colleagues for seeing their way clear to take the supporting position once again.”

Mrs Butler-Turner was totally supportive of the presentation by the Member for Englerston, Glynnis Hanna Martin and gave an emotional and impassioned endorsement which was totally impressive, but totally overlooked the faults in the legislation which the Leader of the Opposition forced the government to revise.

Dr Minnis forced the government to review the issue of retroactivity for persons born after July 9, 1973, and received that those persons will receive a fair hearing and reasonable consideration of their applications through an administrative process. Hopefully the electorate will give the referendum a chance. If it fails, Mr Christie will remember that he once agreed to support then he campaigned against it, so this one is on him.

Did the critics get it wrong? Did they get it wrong when Dr Minnis led his party to a definite “no” vote against the VAT, as being too burdensome on the poor?

Dr Minnis is emerging as a leader who the voters can trust and who can be counted on to be open and honest on issues that the working class Bahamians want to understand. His style is his own and it appeals to the new generation of Bahamian voters who want more candour, more directness, more decisiveness and more frankness from their political leaders.

M THOMPSON

Nassau,

August 29, 2014.