The Tribune

By Malcolm Strachan

One month shy of the current administration wrapping up its first year in government and thus far, there have been few surprises. Many of his critics saw Dr Minnis as ineffective in his capacity as Opposition Leader, both inside his party and the public sphere. Somehow though, he was able to scrape by, barely maintaining control of a party that was miraculously able to galvanise itself at the eleventh hour and win an election that was theirs to lose.

Despite leading the charge on the crushing defeat of the PLP, we’ve heard it all too many times this year - the support for Minnis was simply repackaged disdain for the PLP. Almost a year later and nothing much has changed since Prime Minister Minnis assumed the position as head of government.

His shaky command of the English language is still, at times, agonising to witness. Also, given the highest level of authority in the country, his decision-making can still be very questionable, to say the least. To make matters worse, while once being seen as a humble, “every man’s man”, Prime Minister Minnis has recently taken on an arrogant bravado that has quickly become extremely unflattering.

As unbefitting as these characteristics are with a head of state, they are the reality we see in our prime minister.

Perhaps some of us were hoping a form of evolution would have occurred – that the prime minister would have figured it out by now. Unfortunately, the God’s honest truth is that it seems this could not be further from the case. His shortcomings have now been illuminated under the bright lights of governing.

Promises

His limitations are painfully harder to watch in his role as prime minister. Too often he is stringing together incoherent statements and paying lip service to anyone still gullible enough to place any value in his words after the multitude of promises left unfulfilled.

No doubt, buyer’s remorse is widespread. So much so the people still blindly supporting the prime minister seem drunk off something stronger than what the Christie supporters indulged in. Staunch supporters of the FNM are disappointed with how the country has progressed under the Minnis administration, while PLP and DNA supporters join in a chorus to shout “I told you so” from the rooftops. Meanwhile, fringe voters are doubly upset because it feels all too familiar to the previous five years under the PLP, where the Christie administration worked from a similar playbook.

It would seem as if Prime Minister Minnis has either forgotten, or was never aware to begin with, that what endeared him to many sympathisers and supporters, was his ability to appeal to the common man and differentiate himself from our political archetype.

He is unfortunately too flawed to realise the people are the ones who make or break you.

Whether their methods would have been seen as genuine or self-promoting, a few of his ministers have tried to advise the prime minister in this regard.

Most notably, Pineridge MP Frederick McAlpine, who has been fearless in his critique of the government, much to the dismay of his colleagues, and State Minister for Legal Affairs Elsworth Johnson have both been very expressive in how they feel the country ought to be governed.

Principles

As it relates to McAlpine, the writing on the wall is clear - he is not popular with the prime minister. Yet, he is firmly bound to his principles and the mandate of his constituents. What is even more refreshing is to see those in government that value holding strong convictions over saving face and offering blind support. Likewise, Johnson, a former Bahamas Bar Association (BBA) president, recently urged the prime minister to appoint a Chief Justice, as to not leave the seat vulnerable to political abuse and the judicial arm of the country is intact.

Johnson was castigated from all sides for what some felt was him, a junior minister, being overly critical of the prime minister in public.

While Johnson has since apologised for his public comments about the prime minister, McAlpine, to his credit, seems as though he could not care less about being a part of the club, as he has been resolute in his crusade for good governance.

Simultaneously, Centerville MP Reece Chipman, who was fired as Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Chairman (AMMC) is considering suing the prime minister for defamation. Although the concerns he raised with the prime minister upon being fired seemed just, the narrative seems to be that it is not okay to challenge the prime minister.

This begs the question: Would we rather our elected members of parliament be publicly critical of government?

Or, would we prefer to be presented with a seemingly cohesive government that values loyalty to each other over the electorate?

This is something we tend to struggle with. When one speaks up against what they view as wrongdoing, we tend to assume they are engaging in political gamesmanship, breaking Cabinet protocol or disrespecting the prime minister, rather than exposing the government for a lack of accountability.

As a self-proclaimed believer in transparency and accountability in leadership, it is quite hypocritical to ostensibly not want to be questioned or challenged. The prime minister tends to seem very uncomfortable when prodded by the press to answer questions important to the electorate.

Likewise, he seems easily offended when challenged by those he expects to walk to the beat of his drum.

This would have been acceptable had his voting power stretched throughout all the other 34 constituencies won by the FNM on May 10, 2017. However, he should be reminded that he is merely one out of 190,000 voters, and the Members of Parliament took an oath to work for their constituents – a responsibility they should not be penalised for, especially when they are stating – as Fred McAlpine called it – “the God’s honest truth”.

The truth is not unattainable for those that wish to see.

The majority of Bahamian citizens are unhappy, and as McAlpine noted, the government is losing credibility.

Prime Minister Minnis may have lost all of his and is only being buoyed by some of the highly regarded members of his Cabinet whose images are still taking a hit by remaining silent while others are speaking up.

It would not be the worst idea for the prime minister to examine the criticism against him and, if he cares at all about evolving, have himself a come-to-Jesus moment of sorts.

One thing is certain, if he continues on his current course, his political expiration date will be etched in stone, and those that sat by in silence won’t be able to so easily wash off the stink.