The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

House Speaker Dr Kendal Major has been placed in a precarious predicament by the top brass of the PLP on at least three different occasions in 2015.

Major’s refusal to toe the party line by allowing Opposition Leader Dr Hubert Minnis to address the V Alfred Gray matter in March and former PLP MP Dr Andre Rollins to deliver a lengthy anti-PLP tirade in Parliament during the 2015/2016 Budget Debate has raised the ire of the leadership of the governing party. The Rollins situation has only compounded Major’s dilemma within the PLP. It was already being rumoured that he would be denied a renomination in Garden Hills for allowing Minnis to make his contribution. Apparently, Major’s decision to hamstring the Public Accounts Committee in May did not atone for his sin among senior PLP parliamentarians.

Here, we have a situation where the PLP top brass expects Major to circumvent House rules by refusing to allow duly elected MPs who are not parroting their political talking points to make their contributions. The Punch tabloid reported some weeks ago that Major, Gregory Moss, Renward Wells, Rollins and one other PLP MP would be dumped by the party. By resigning from the party, however, both Moss and Rollins have preempted Christie and Co. If their departure says anything, it says that there is really no honourable way to leave the PLP.

It also shows that one is often faced with having to make a choice between conscience or political career. Regarding the latter, Major has been faced with this difficult choice on three different occasions.

I think Major is positioned directly in the political crosshairs of senior party members. This was evident by the fact that both Deputy Prime Minister Philip ‘‘Brave’’ Davis and Minister of Labour and National Insurance Shane Gibson have publicly voiced their disagreement with Major for not abruptly ending the recent budget debate – a move that was shrewdly devised to prevent Rollins from addressing Parliament. One can assume that the  mild scolding was designed to publicly embarrass the already embattled House Speaker. This public scolding indicates that senior PLP parliamentarians’ expectation of the House Speaker borders on the irrational.

It seems like they don’t want him to be fair in his supervision of parliamentary proceedings. No such scolding was given to V Alfred Gray, who admitted to calling a magistrate regarding a judicial matter. Him giving up his Local Government portfolio can hardly be considered punishment, especially given the fact that he still receives his full minister’s salary and perks.

Major renders a ruling in favour of the Opposition and his future with the PLP is in limbo. The discretion of some of our political leaders is seriously skewed.

Davis’ and Gibson’s repudiation of Major suggests one thing: The PLP no longer wants him. Major must come to grips with this sobering fact and follow the example of Moss and Rollins. Why wait and suffer the public humiliation of having your renomination bid rejected outright by the PLP National General Council? Major stands to lose nothing by severing ties with the PLP. After all, the party is going to dump him anyway.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama,

June 24, 2015