The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party (PLP) deputy leader candidate Ricardo Smith yesterday called on party leadership to strongly discourage scurrilous attacks on former Prime Minister Perry Christie’s legacy, which he claims are threatening unity and public image.

Mr Smith said the former PLP leader still enjoyed the support of 80 percent of party supporters, some of whom he claimed were deeply concerned there has been no official statement distancing the organisation from derogatory remarks.

He was referring to recent public statements by former PLP MPs George Smith and Philip Galanis, who have each criticised Mr Christie since his loss at the polls.

“I’m not pleased with (PLP Leader Philip) Davis’ silence on these matters,” Mr Smith said.

“I don’t like it, something doesn’t smell right and these are the men (who were) calling for him to run against Mr Christie some time ago, when Mr Christie was the prime minister. This is not the way we ought to be moving forward. I just think these are two bitter failed members of Parliament, very bitter men who have failed and they believe the party or Mr Christie owes them something and they didn’t get it.”

Mr Smith continued: “Persons that support Mr Christie are sick and tired of it and we want it to stop. He is not the leader of the party, or of the country, he is in semi-retirement, let him be. He has done his best with trying to move the country forward. He has done a lot of initiatives that will be marked as historical. Enough is enough.”

Mr Smith suffered an overwhelming loss to Chester Cooper in the deputy leader race at the PLP’s convention last October. He said the party’s leadership transition was still a “work in progress”, with Mr Davis and Chairman Fred Mitchell getting through the “little bumps”.

He said while Mr Christie seemed ready to settle into private life, he felt it would be very difficult for him to deny a call for a return to national service.

“I can tell you if the people decide we want Christie back, it will be very difficult for him to deny us,” Mr Smith said.

“He belongs to us and we belong to him, he enjoys a high favourability within the PLP . . . if you were to poll PLPs you will never get those kind of (negative) comments, if you were to poll Bahamians you wouldn’t find those views.”

Mr Smith stressed Mr Christie was still popular in the organisation and his supporters were “able and capable” of defending the former prime minister’s legacy.

“I say this as a candidate for the deputy,” he continued, “the leadership moving forward, we want to be moving forward in unity. These types of comments and statements must be, from the highest level in the party, must be discouraged, it has to be.

“(Mr Christie) is still is a very popular person, not just in the party but in the country. So when you do that you injure us, you injure people who love this party, and we cannot carry on like this. Have some respect for the man who has held this office, who has led the party through some of the most difficult periods - the era after Pindling, come on, why do they want to go this route? As much as people think we have a long time to election that’s not true. We have more alike that differences let us try and work through that.”