The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

ONE day after former Progressive Liberal Party Cabinet minister Loftus Roker characterised the party as being in the "worst state as it has ever been," Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin said it was now time for the party to "prepare for the future".

Stopping short of revealing whether she intended to offer herself for a leadership post in the party's upcoming convention, Mrs Hanna Martin, the only PLP candidate to win a seat in New Providence in the last election, said she fully intends to do what she must in the party's efforts to recover and rebuild.

The former transport and aviation minister also backed calls for the party to reconnect with its political base, millennials and all other demographics it may have disenfranchised with past actions.

Mr Roker on Monday claimed the "arrogant, know it all attitudes" displayed by members of the party for much of the last ten to 12 years rubbed voters the wrong way. He later predicted the issue could mark the end of the "great PLP" if the party does not return to its original message of 1967.

Since losing the May 10 general election, the former administration has been dogged by allegations of misfeasance and wrongdoing.

Of the ordeals, Mr Roker said the "pompous and condescending attitudes" by PLP officials had pushed the public to a point where it could no longer "suck it up and go ahead with business as usual."

In response to Mr Roker's comments, Mrs Hanna Martin said Tuesday: "Honourable Loftus Roker is one of the early builders of the PLP and so he has a vested interest in and every right to comment on the current state of our party and its future."

She added: "The PLP has, in the aftermath of the general election, to prepare for the future and I intend to do what I must in this effort of recovery and rebuilding of a party of the 21st century, including reconnecting with our political base, the millennials and other demographics.

"I am absolutely determined to do all that I can to ensure the party achieves these objectives."

When asked by The Tribune if her declaration could be perceived as plans to launch some sort of leadership bid, she said: "As the late Lynden Pindling used to say: 'We shall see what we shall see.'"

Last month, Exuma MP Chester Cooper called on the PLP to apologise to the electorate and learn from the errors that led to its defeat in the May 10 general election.

Mr Cooper said the party's protection of its own interest over the country's proved to be another critical misstep, adding that the PLP was not accountable or transparent enough.

His striking critique came during a speech at the National Progressive Institute (NPI). The NPI is a policy advisory group for the PLP.