The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

There has been some idle talk in recent times that there is or might be a coup being plotted against the leadership of the Hon Philip ‘Brave’ Davis MP, QC (PLP-Cat Island; Rum Cay and San Salvador) by individuals and cabals within the Progressive Liberal Party. As a life long member and supporter of this iconic political juggernaut, I wish to disabuse right thinking Bahamians of this fake observation.

In our party we believe in the concept of one leader at a time. To become leader one has to earn it the old fashion way....outmanoeuvring and defeating challengers in convention. Our erstwhile leader broadly defeated all of his challengers at our last convention, inclusive of the Hon Member for Englerston. If his margin of victory was slim one could understand a degree of uncomfortable reactions but it was so huge that to challenge it would have been a waste of time.

Yes, it is to be conceded that there are people in our party who never wanted Brave to emerge as leader. I am not and never have been one of them. In fact, two years ago, I advised Brave to publicly challenge Brother Christie for the position as it was abundantly clear to all that the former PM was badly out of touch and was incapable of seeing the city for the smoke, literally.

The then PLP led by Christie and his inner circle (Brave, despite being Deputy Prime Minister) was never embraced by either Ingraham or Christie. It is my view that they both saw him as a master organiser and prodigious fundraiser for the party. In addition, he is a known workaholic. He is determined; focused and has a clear plan and vision for the advancement of our wonderful nation. Some suggest that based on collective responsibility, Brave does share in the omissions and alleged bad governance wrought by the Christie administration but one has to be realistic when dissecting the application of constitutional conventions here in our wonderful nation.

We pay lip service to them but, in most cases would not recognise a single one of them if we were to see them. Under the system obtaining in the UK a minister or senior civil servant “falls on his sword” if something goes wrong.....not here in The Bahamas. We fiddle and play half crazy while hoping that the relevant issue would simply go away.

Since the advent of the Minnis administration we have seen and witnessed several issues which should have triggered ministerial resignations or replacement. I will, of course, not refer to any of those issues as many of them are sub judice and are still being played out in the arena of public opinion. I will refer to the new stadium that was under construction during the latter months of the Christie administration.

The FNM came to office and immediately stopped that project, while allegedly reviewing the same. One year later, the project is resumed with the same original contractor after tens of thousands of dollars worth of expenses would have been incurred. Minister Michael Pintard, former Minister of Sports; Youth & Culture has been reassigned to another ministry where he might be able to display his considerable talents as a ‘back yard farmer’.

Brave is the undisputed leader of my party. Yes, there will always be challengers to any one in leadership position but this is not the time to seek to change the leader in mid-stream. The party is still in a rebuilding mode and we can ill afford for any real PLP to launch a misguided and possibly disruptive leadership challenge, at this time. The focus of the party must be to relaunch and reinforce the branches within each constituency. Where there are officers currently serving but who are ineffective in carrying the message of our party to the residents therein, must be removed or asked to step aside.

At this, juncture, however, we, as a party that must be returned to high office if we are to successfully rescue our wonderful nation from the political clutches of this clueless and by the seat of one’s pants government. The Christie era, like that of Ingraham, is over and done with.

Christie did the best that he could have done, considering his psychological makeup, politically speaking, and his extended time in front line politics.

He stayed around, in my view, too long and should have left office in 2014 and allowed the party to elect Brave or some other viable leader to take us into the 2017 generals. Alas that was not to be and we lost big time.

Now some say that there is a Christie-led cabal seeking to get rid of Brave and replace him and Cooper with known, but useless and visionless acolytes of Brother Christie.

It is accepted that at least one of the daily newspapers and certainly, it is alleged, the tabloids are anti Brave.

They heap praise on Minnis no matter his blunders and gross acts of maladministration. Well, that is all right because the New Deal PLP is on a mission and we are focused and prepared for the necessary heavy lifting. We are brave and will not falter. To God then, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE Jr

Nassau,

September 19, 2018.