The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

MARATHON MP Jerome Fitzgerald said the chances of former Attorney General Alfred Sears defeating Prime Minister Perry Christie in the Progressive Liberal Party’s leadership battle are “highly unlikely” as he questioned the rationale behind the former MP’s bid to head the governing organisation.

Mr Fitzgerald, a strong backer of the prime minister, was adamant that Mr Sears would find difficulty in receiving the nod from members of Parliament who might be apprehensive to support someone as their leader who is not a current MP and has been out of frontline politics for many years.

He said while he could not predict the tone that the PLP’s leadership race will take, Mr Fitzgerald urged supporters not to release the “dogs of war” on Mr Sears, whom he praised as a man of integrity with good social standing. The party is expected to head into a five-day convention during the last week in November.

Mr Fitzgerald told reporters that the “dogs of war” ravaged Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner when she faced off against Free National Movement Leader Dr Hubert Minnis two weeks ago in the opposition party’s convention.

On Sunday, Mr Sears announced his intention to challenge Mr Christie, meaning that the prime minister will face the first challenge to his leadership since National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage and attorney Paul Moss faced off against him in 2009.

Mr Christie told The Tribune on Monday that he does not feel threatened by this.

“I think at the end of the day timing is everything in life and I just question his timing at this point because at the end of the day the reality is that he has been out of politics for a number of years,” Mr Fitzgerald told reporters following a press conference at the Ministry of Education yesterday.

“He is not a member of Parliament and he will be asking those who are members of Parliament to support him over the prime minister, who is a member of Parliament. So it’s a strange position where you’ll be asking members of Parliament from the outside to support you and to lead us. So I am not sure to what extent he would have thought that through, but having said that, I think as a Progressive Liberal Party new generation, I want to ensure that at the end of the day we don’t see in our party what happened with the Free National Movement and Loretta Butler-Turner and so I will just really be asking all of our members to treat Mr Sears with respect.

“At the end of the day he is free to do that. His chances of success I believe are highly, highly unlikely.”

The minister of education added: “I have a lot of respect for Mr Sears. Of course he has a lot to offer. With his platform I just wish that he would have brought it to the party so that we could have looked at it and see how we could have included it in our platform as a Progressive Liberal Party as opposed to it appearing that it is an Alfred Sears driven agenda.

“I really don’t want us to get into the depth of what I saw at the FNM convention where what I call ‘the dogs of war’ were really released on Loretta Butler-Turner and I don’t want to see ‘the dogs of war’ within the PLP released on Alfred Sears. He has contributed far too much and he is a senior member within the party.

“Again his chances of success are slim, but that’s neither here nor there that’s just my personal view.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the prime minister, who is a sitting prime minister and who has decided that he wants to remain in office, is very popular still in his constituency and has been so for the last 40 years. Again I don’t know if Mr Sears considered that.”

On Monday Mr Christie told The Tribune he didn’t see Mr Sears’ bid to contest the party’s leadership as problematic.

He said: “There is no problem at all. We are a wonderful party, a big tent with strong traditions of democratic functions. All is well.”

Pressed further, Mr Christie suggested that he was not concerned about a leadership race at the PLP convention, saying the rules of the party will take precedence over everything else.

“I am leader of the party and I am focused on developmental issues in the country. People expect me to be able to deal with mortgage relief (and) Baha Mar. That’s what we are doing now and so our convention goes by rules and once people comply with the rules we are okay.”

For months, Mr Sears has been laying the groundwork for a leadership run, having recently released a list of proposals he intends to champion if he becomes leader of the PLP.

He spent recent months canvassing the country to make an assessment about whether it would be wise to run for leader. Mr Sears, recently ratified as the PLP’s election candidate for Ft Charlotte, pledged to run a “clean” race, one without personal attacks.

He represented Ft Charlotte from 2002-2012.