The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) last night announced the ratification of three candidates for the upcoming general election, including House Speaker and Member of Parliament for Garden Hills, Dr Kendal Major.

At the end of the party’s National General Council monthly meeting, the PLP leadership said the trio selected would assure the party three seats it earned as a part of the 2012 general elections - Garden Hills, Bamboo Town and North Abaco.

The party will run incumbent MP Renardo Curry in North Abaco and Senator Greg Burrows in Bamboo Town, a seat the party won in 2012 under the stewardship of former PLP member and current leader of Opposition Business, Renward Wells.

Prime Minister Perry Christie took delight in each selection, announcing the ratification of Senator Burrows personally and passing off the announcement of Dr Major to Deputy Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis and that of Mr Curry to party chairman Bradley Roberts.

To the cheers of more than 200 party supporters crammed inside the Lynden Pindling Centre and the hundreds gathered outside, all three re-dedicated themselves to both the party and its leadership as currently constituted.

Dr Major said he intends to finish the job he started in 2012, insisting that his plan to make Garden Hills the golden gateway to south New Providence is just about to bear fruit. Stressing the “major” initiatives implemented in the community over the course of the last four years, Dr Major said he and his team had delivered on the majority of promises they made heading into the 2012 election.

He added that all outstanding initiatives are on the agenda and will be completed in short order. “My decision to enter public life has never been about traditional politics; rather it is about a vision for a better Garden Hills,” he said.

The high point of last night’s event came early, as Patricia Deveaux, the Bamboo Town Branch Chairperson, launched a strong rebuke of Mr Wells, dubbing the former PLP member a “political misfit”.

She slammed Mr Wells for his claims that he won the Bamboo Town constituency on his political merit.

According to Mrs Deveaux, it was a call by Prime Minister Christie roughly five weeks before the 2012 election to her campaign team that turned the tide in Mr Wells’ favour.

She insisted that the claims by the “political misfit” will doom him if he dared to launch a bid for re-election in Bamboo Town.

“(Mr Wells) said Bamboo Town was won because of his name. I am going to tell him something. My leader (Mr Christie) gave a call to my political godfather five weeks before election; he said go down to Bamboo Town, I feel their struggle and I want you to win it for me.

“We packed our bags and jumped up on our speedboat because the ship was going to take a little long. We sped over to Bamboo Town and we put this political misfit on our ballot sheet, next to our crab bitter (PLP logo) and we gave him a political name,” she added.

Mrs Deveaux concluded by handing off a baton to Mr Burrows, dubbing him the chosen one for Bamboo Town.

Mr Christie fired Mr Wells from his post at the Ministry of Works following months of controversy over the signing of a Letter of Intent for a waste-to-energy plant.

Subsequently, Mr Wells, along with Fort Charlotte MP Andre Rollins, resigned and members of the PLP and joined the Free National Movement.