The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

EXECUTIVES of the social reform organisation, the Bahamas National Citizenship Coalition yesterday announced plans to transition into a political party to contest the 2017 general election.

Their plan is to “provide the Bahamian people with a new vision to guide our nation forward.”

Organising Chairman Reverend Andrew Stewart said that the group’s fight for economic liberation is entrenched in the principle that all Bahamians are entitled to their “just due and patrimony.”

“It is a vision of a new social order where the wealth is made common and all of the citizens are beneficiaries in a new interpersonal relationship undergirded by new socio-economic standards that reinforce the dignity and sanctity of the human person,” he said.

“Mindful that the vision that is imbedded in the preamble of our Constitution requires that we fully pledge ourselves, our energies, our intellect, our resources and our humble lives to the next generation of the sacred vision that calls us to seek to work tirelessly to engender a nation that lives out the creed so eloquently espoused.”

Officials vowed that if elected, the Bahamas National Coalition Party (BNCP) would work to bring about systemic, fundamental and structural change.

In addition to Mr Stewart, the current executive framework of the party includes Wesley Campbell, organising advisor, and Tyrone Knowles, organising party secretary.

Mr Campbell, a noted historian, said present and past governments have done very little to correct matters affecting everyday Bahamians. He said they only worked to ensure that the political elites of the nation maintained a “healthy advantage”.

“We have made our position very clear to the Bahamian people over the past two and a half years. We have conducted a number of marches against economic issues in our country that have made our position very clear,” he said.

Mr Campbell indicated that the issues resulting from crime, economic division and social division has put the Bahamas on a path on which it cannot continue.

He said: “Bahamians are at a point, enough is enough – they deserve more and we, the BNCP will work to bring about the necessary solutions.”

Although officials didn’t offer an exact date, senior members of the group promised that the organisation would, in the coming months hold its first national convention where leaders and political candidates for the 2017 general election would be named.

When asked how he thought the public would react to the announcement, Mr Stewart affirmed that the Bahamian public has made it “crystal clear” that there is not only room for a third-party, but, “there is room for more”.

Mr Stewart added that while the party is open to the incorporation of other social and political groups moving forward, the BNCP has no plan to compromise on its constitutional stance of economic equality for Bahamians.

“We are committed to endure and triumph at the end, come what may. Our goal is for the BNCP to be the next government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” Mr Stewart said.