The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The Prime Minister needs to rein in his cabinet ministers, hacks and semi-delusional political fanatics before it becomes too late for the credibility, sustainability and viability of this now ludicrous “Gold Rush” administration.

We are rapidly going from the sublime to the ridiculous. This is not what tens of thousands of right thinking Bahamians and Progressive Liberal Party supporters expected.

Crime has become a political football and a way and means of attempting to score or gain brownie points at the expense of one’s opponents from a political stance. As a lawyer, this is dead wrong and I, for one, am sick and tired of the drivel and shaving cream.

The PLP, which I fully support, has been hijacked by yesterday’s men and women to the grave detriment of the ordinary and unwashed Bahamians. Who are the hijackers and what is their agenda? They are basically up in age and are now hell bent on amassing as much money and other material things as possible while we have an obviously “out of touch” and, if that were possible, a dithering Prime Minister.

Christie is lost in the fabled fifth dimension or even further. He cannot find his way back home. He is too far gone. I mean him well and a long and even more prosperous and robust life but he is fast becoming irrelevant, clown-like and devoid of any realistic expectations for this nation. He is dead tired and it is clear that he needs to go home within the first or second quarter of 2016.

The Bahamas is at the proverbial crossroads and we can either continue going backwards or we can leap into a brand New Year with a fresh, bold and clear-headed leader within the great PLP. We have yet to see the best days of this nation while we proceed to write the book about our country, her people and all of our reasonable expectations.

Crime was one of the main planks in the platform of the PLP while in opposition. We were wrong to have sought brownie points and political advantages by cussing out the hapless Tommy Turnquest, for whom I once held high hopes. Turnquest meant well but he, at least to me, wore his considerable arrogance on his shoulders. Some of us, like Tommy and Perry, are astride horses so high that it is almost impossible to get off. What a national and personal tragedy!

The nation is in crisis under the puerile and bumbling leadership of Christie et al. The Ministers of National Security should both be reassigned. The Minister of Labour has proven to be incapable or uncaring about the creation of sustainable jobs and the true economic employment of the unwashed masses. Viginius Alfred Gray is a work in progress as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. What a waste of time as a Member of Parliament and a Cabinet minister. Frederick Audley Mitchell is a pantomime unto himself. The Tourism head honcho, Obie Wilchcombe, is yet another delusional minister completely devoid of things that matter. This should not be interpreted as an attack on Wilchcombe or any other cabinet ministers but they, in the main, all appear to be bootlickers, tin gods, ironed balled goddesses and clueless nincompoops or worse.

The PLP is badly in need of a leadership change. We in Common Cause and Arena (The National Republican Alliance) are laser focused on bringing this about within the first six months of 2016. There is nothing or no one, save an act of God, which will detract us from this fundamental objective.

We also wish the Free National Movement (FNM) and its newly minted members all the best. The chickens and Androsian buzzards have, truly, come home to roost. Rollins and Wells were and are political prostitutes of the highest order. I have long questioned their commitment and ability to be team players. It is ok to be seen to be in a hurry but what gives them the automatic right to instant political elevation and recognition? In politics, usually, one has to earn his/her stripes. Not so with these erstwhile and politically unconnected characters.

The addition of Rollins and Wells to the backbenches of the FNM will, I predict, prove problematical for that organisation in the very near future. They were never PLPs and never believed in our core principles. They used the PLP and its machinery to get nominations and to be successfully elected to the House of Assembly. It was never about the good of the people or the advancement of the PLP. It was all about them, as we now see.

Dr Minnis and that crew will all be swept aside upon the anticipated grand re-entrance of the Dragon from north Abaco. Ingraham has to re-enter frontline politics, if only for two reasons. He is the only living politician who the current PM literally fears and Ingraham has the discipline and vision to advance The Bahamas if Brave Davis drops the ball or gets cold feet next year.

With the co-opting of Rollins and Wells, Minnis and the FNM have embraced the proverbial “snake”. At the earliest opportunity they will rebel against Minnis and make him look like the ineffectual leader that he is, despite his best efforts. They are after pure political power and to hell with whoever gets in their way.

The PLP’s leadership, in the form of Christie and Bradley Roberts (a former member and supporter, allegedly, of the now defunct United Bahamian Party) is out of touch and delusional. I condemn the stupid remarks attributed to Roberts relative to Sarkis Izmirlian. The PLP, historically, has always treated foreign investors badly after they would have used them, financially and politically.

All one has to do is to ask Haracchi, Vesco, the Shah of Iran, the Australian and my good friend and benefactor, Peter Nygard. This is not an exhaustive list and there are many more bodies littering the floor or hidden in the closet.

We look forward to a big bust up in the FNM within the next six months as we expect that there will be one in the PLP. At the end of the day, Brave will emerge to lead the PLP into the general elections while on the FNM side, right thinking members will clamour for the eventual and imminent return of Ingraham. The battle will be between Brave and Hubert.

The beauty of this is that Brave knows the Achilles heel of both Christie and Ingraham. Yes, Brave might be a work in progress but he is not a grandstander. He is also not a purveyor of shaving cream. What you see is precisely what you will get.

ORTLAND H BODIE JR

Nassau,

November 5, 2015.