The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I WAS recently informed by a reliable source that the defeated Free National Movement (FNM) candidate for the constituency of West Grand Bahama and Bimini, Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe is one of several persons vying for the nomination for the North Abaco constituency. A well-known Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Internet newspaper also published this story (or rumour) concerning Edgecombe. Perhaps these are just unfounded rumours. But as a political observer, I have become accustomed to the old adage which says, where there is smoke there is fire. It is likely that these rumours are indeed true. I would like to give my opinion on this interesting matter. As a keen political observer and regular contributor to the dailies, I think I have earned the right to give my five cents concerning who the opposition party should run in that area. I have nothing against Edgecombe. In fact, the readership of this daily would recall that I had written in the past in support of her candidacy against her main political rival in West Grand Bahama and Bimini, Obie Wilchcombe, the newly minted minister of Tourism. I think the election results in that contest have surprised many Grand Bahamians, especially FNMs. Edgecombe managed to get 2,233 or 43.02 per cent of the votes cast. Wilchcombe received 2,877 or 55.42 per cent of the votes. The Democratic National Alliance's (DNA) candidate Roger Rolle got a measly 81 votes. He was not a factor at all in that contest. There were 5,191 voters who cast their ballots in that area. Edgecombe was defeated by 644 votes. It wasn't close at all. And this despite the fact that the community of Eight Mile Rock, a supposedly FNM bastion, was amalgamated to West End and Bimini by the Ingraham administration late last year.

Clearly, the cards had been stacked in Edgecombe's favour. What's more, there were reports leading up to May 7 that Wilchcombe's war chest was nearly broke. Yet despite this, she couldn't deliver that area for the former governing party. If anything, that contest should have been much closer. So, what went wrong? It is likely that her message simply did not resonate with the people of that area.

One other factor in the outcome in that race was the way in which the former FNM Eight Mile Rock member of Parliament, Verna Grant, was reported to have been treated by the former governing party. Undoubtedly, there were many family members and close friends from that area who were upset with the FNM because of the way she was handled. It is not my intention, however, to debates the pros and cons of the way the FNM was alleged to have treated Grant.

If the hierarchy of the opposition party is considering on giving Edgecombe the nod to run in North Abaco, then I am of the view that they are taking a huge gamble. If Edgecombe lost a race that, by most accounts, should have been at least a dead heat, then who's to say that she will end up doing the same thing in North Abaco, notwithstanding the former prime minister's endorsement. I believe that the opposition party should run a native Abaconian instead of a person who lives in Grand Bahama. For the FNM to run Edgecombe in North Abaco is tantamount to the PLP running North Eleuthera's Clay Sweeting in East Grand Bahama. It simply makes no sense at all. After moving five incumbents to different areas before the May 7 general elections, it appears as if the opposition party hasn't learned anything from the trashing it received at the polls.

Former Prime Minister, FNM leader and outgoing member of Parliament Hubert A Ingraham, in his farewell address, told his North Abaco constituents that he will be retiring from front-line politics after serving 35 years as their representative. He also told his constituents that they should choose an individual from that area to replace him. The former prime minister recently told one of the national dailies that several persons who are either natives of Abaco or have ties to that island are interested in running. Ties to that island? By revealing to the press that one of the interested individuals has ties to Abaco, does the former prime minister mean Edgecombe? It could be. I understand that Edgecombe has family living on that Family Island. It is likely that her family members are the ones pushing her to go after the nomination for that area.

However, the question that her relatives should ask themselves is this: Will the remaining residents of North Abaco accept a candidate who is an outsider? According to Edgecombe's biography on the FNM's website, she was born in West End and had attended Holmes Rock Primary School and Eight Mile Rock High School. This means that she was born and raised on Grand Bahama. Concerning Renardo Curry, the PLP's website says that he is currently completing a Bachelors Degree in Finance and Accounts Management at the University of Wales and Walden's University. But it also adds that he is a deacon at a local church in North Abaco. He had also served as a youth director in that church. Curry, unlike Edgecombe, received his primary school education in North Abaco. The fact that he currently serves as a deacon in a church in that area tells me that he lives there. In my humble opinion, this gives him a distinct advantage over an outsider like Edgecombe.

Ingraham appeared at the opening of Parliament on May 23 to register his name. But he has made it clear to the Press that he will not be taking his seat in the House of Assembly, much to the chagrin of his political opponents. Ingraham has told the Press that he will officially retire from the House of Assembly on July 19, the anniversary of his first election victory. He became the member of Parliament for the Cooper's Town constituency in 1977. He has won eight consecutive elections in that area.

He spent seven years as a PLP member of Parliament; six years as an independent and 22 years as an FNM. It is my firm belief that the FNM has only been able to win that seat in five consecutive elections because of Ingraham. I understand that the former prime minister was born in Pineridge, Grand Bahama, but was raised in North Abaco. The former prime minister is definitely a native of that area. He is an out-and-out Abaconian.

In the recent May 7 electoral contest, the former prime minister received a formidable challenge from the PLP's standard bearer, Curry. Ingraham outscored Curry by only 379 votes. As the then leader of one of the two major political parties and (former) prime minister of The Bahamas, I feel that Ingraham's margin of victory was not that impressive at all.

With some 4,120 voters who had cast their ballots on Election Day, he should have outpolled the relatively unknown Curry, who in my view is a political lightweight, by at least 800 votes. In the 2007 general election, Ingraham received 1,855 or 52.64 per cent of the votes. His PLP challenger Fritz Bootle got 1,387 or 39.36 per cent of the votes. The two independent candidates Kenneth Claridge and Cay Mills got a combined 282 or eight per cent of the votes. In total, there were 3,524 valid votes that were cast in that contest. Three-thousand-seven-hundred and sixty-four Abaconians had registered to vote that year. Ingraham outpolled his main opponent by 468 votes.

Despite having 596 more valid votes in 2012 than in 2007, Ingraham's margin of victory had declined by 89 votes. Again, this should have caused many of the top guns within the FNM to be very concerned about that area. What's more, Ingraham ran against a man who few Bahamians knew before the last campaign cycle. It all this goes to show that Curry is a very formidable candidate who was able to give Ingraham a very good run for his money. In fact, his performance had shocked me. In my view, Ingraham's election performance should have been as impressive as the political heavyweights of the PLP. But it wasn't.

The so-called political heavyweights of the PLP destroyed their FNM challengers at the polls in the inner-city constituencies of Nassau. Prime Minister Perry G Christie defeated the FNM's candidate in Centreville Ella Lewis by 1,349 votes. He received a staggering 60.79 per cent of the votes in that area. Lewis got 32.99 per cent of the votes. The Democratic National Alliance's (DNA) Celi Moss got just 6.22 per cent or 302 votes.

Glenys Hanna-Martin defeated her FNM opponent, Caron Shepard, in Englerston by 1386 votes. Martin got 61.63 per cent of the votes to Shepard's 32.79 per cent. The remaining five candidates in that contest got a combined 268 or 5.58 per cent of the votes cast. In the Bain and Grants Town contest, the PLP's Dr Bernard Nottage got 2,856 votes to John Bostwick II's 1,754 votes. Bostwick was outpolled by a staggering 1,102 votes. Nottage got 57.56 per cent of the votes. Bostwick got just 35.35 per cent.

My point is this, Ingraham was only able to stave off his main political challenger because of his immense political stature. Unfortunately, for a political lightweight like Edgecombe, defeating Curry may not be all that easy. She is probably thinking that she would be able to win that contest because North Abaco is an FNM bastion. However, with Ingraham now out of front-line politics, there is obviously a new set of dynamics in that area. Therefore, the race for that seat is now a toss up.

I understand that Curry has already began campaigning in that area in anticipation for the by-election. If Edgecombe is given the nomination, she will have to canvass that constituency in order to acquaint herself with the 4,438 registered voters. Curry and his campaign machinery have already done this. What's more, Abaconians are familiar with him. He's one of their own. Curry knows what the needs of that constituency are because he lives there. Moreover, his party already has 29 of the 38 seats in Parliament. I will go out on a limb and say that Curry will win that contest if Edgecombe runs against him. I don't have any confidence that Edgecombe can beat him. She couldn't defeat Wilchcombe in a race that many in Grand Bahama had predicted that she would win. I cannot think of any good reasons why North Abaconians should not choose Curry to be their next member of Parliament. Thank you!

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama

June 3, 2012.