The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The long nightmare which Bahamians endured for a little over four years is, mercifully, at an end with the election of the Davis administration two months ago. The draconian responses to the arrival of the pandemic and reaction to the devastation of Dorian pushed Minnis and his people them straight over the cliff, even if they gratuitously carried thousands of the unwashed masses with them.

Countless Bahamians have gone bankrupt even if not in the formal sense. Many more are out of their homes and apartments due to inability to pay mortgages or rent. Children had to be pulled out of private schools here at home and abroad due to lack of funds by parents and guardians. I don't believe that a single sensible Bahamian would dare to blame Minnis and crew for all that has gone wrong, but he was the Competent Authority and the so-called “man with the plan”'. It follows, therefore, that if the plan did not work or it simply puttered out, the good and the bad goes hand in hand with the ugly.

Have you ever had a nightmare or a bad dream and had difficulty in awakening oneself? That is the feeling inflicted, intentionally or otherwise by Minnis and his people. The current Prime Minister and Minister of Finance is an enlightened individual in more ways than one. He has a feel for issues and people that reminds me of the late great and deeply lamented former Prime Minister, Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling. Brave, I submit, is the real natural successor to Pindling.

The Rt Hon Hubert Alexander Ingraham has leaderships traits akin to Pindling but he appeared to be consumed with the ethics and exercise of pure power and tolerated few who would have opposed him. Of course, he accomplished much and his legacy is secured. The Rt Hon Perry Gladstone Christie, God bless him, was an unadulterated show boat in my considered opinion. His sole legacy is that: he entered politics; he saw opportunities but, alas, he squandered whatever goodwill that had accrued to him by dilly-dallying; preening and talking shaving cream too often. It would appear that his political words were written on water.

Minnis, was in a class all to himself, apparently sitting on a tall stool in the class room trying, in vain, to grasp that he was in fact, Prime Minister. He had a basically competent and hard working cabinet but he appeared to be intolerant of many of them and seemed to micro managed their assigned portfolios. He even went so far as to self declare himself as the Most Honourable and the Competent Authority.

He had to remind himself, often, that he was the big honcho on the block and that it was his way or the high way. What sealed his defeat in September, 2021 was that his personality and facial demeanor did not lend themselves to softening his public persona and reception by the unwashed masses. Long before September a vast majority of Bahamians had decided that he and his crew simply had to go if The Bahamas were to awaken from the Minnis inflicted nightmare.

Now, it is morning in The Bahamas again. The birds are bow singing melody songs again: the sky is bluer than ever before; the fresh breeze is blowing again and for sure there is optimism in the air amongst our people. What a wonderful morning!

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr

Nassau,

November 18, 2021.