The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

It is amazing and a spectacle of no small order to see and witness two of our former, and I stress the adjective, former, Prime Ministers seeking to publicly “upstage” the Most Honourable Prime Minister relative to their bogus attempts to inject themselves into matters of public policy in the aftermath of Dorian.

Minnis and his crew were elected, in case anyone forgets, conveniently, to administer and govern the affairs of The Bahamas. Ingraham and Christie had their opportunities and have now exited the political stage, however reluctantly they may have done so or been forced to accept. Ingraham was not a “bad” Prime Minister but I have always, personally, found him to be a vain; petty and a dismissive individual. He is prone, in my view, to lambasting all and sundry who are not his water carriers, as I used to be. Christie is cut from the same cloth but is more of a “poodle” than the boisterous “pit bull” that Ingraham pretends to be. Between the two of them, The Bahamas today is in the state that it is in.

Ingraham, to his lasting credit, was successful in having the massive roadworks completed here in New Providence. Christie’s pie-in-the sky legacy is still been googled and may yet be found, one day in the distant future. Minnis, love him or hate him, is the duly elected Prime Minister of our wonderful, if temporarily devastated, nation. Some people have a big problem with this fact. Mind you, I supported him and his now motley crew back in 2017 because I could not stomach another term in office by bumbling and fast asleep Christie.

Both Ingraham and Christie could have and should have conceptualised a master plan for dealing with unexpected natural disasters. NEMA has been around for a long time but it is, obviously, a half baked institution led by Captain Russell for too long. Neither Ingraham or Christie saw fit to have huge fully mobilised stand alone dormitories in major populated areas like New Providence; Abaco and Grand Bahama. Infrastructure in those Islands were allowed by Ingraham and Christie to deteriorate and crumbling, literally, before our very eyes. Now, they say, they want to help Minnis and the administration with recovery efforts.

I supported and encouraged the Most Honourable in his quest for secure leadership of the FNM when Loretta and others, inclusive of Duane Sands, were seeking to chop him down at the knees. He’s forgotten that but that is all right. His “word” like all Bahamian politicians means nothing, at least to me. He is, however, the duly elected Prime Minister and he was right, if he did so, to decline the offers of assistance made by the two politicians and relics of a long gone era. I question their sincerity, big time, and the hidden motives.

If Ingraham and Christie really wanted to “assist” they could easily make substantial personal financial donations from the apparent wealth they would have accumulated after being “wards of the state” most of the adult and professional lives. In addition, they both collect a fantastic sum of pension money each month (for the rest of their natural lives) from you, taxpayers.

If they are/were so concerned about being a part of the rescue; recovery and rebuilding efforts, they could easily donate all of their pension due for the rest of this year. Even though they have retired from front line politics, they are still, to the best of my knowledge, engaged in the lucrative practice of the law and are powerful lobbyists. As far as I know they are not hurting, financially.

Minnis was and is totally correct to keep these two at a distance. Those two politicians could also, in their private capacities as wealthy lawyers and former Prime Ministers with extensive local and international contacts set up a nonprofit foundation or purpose driven vehicle to solicit and collect sizable financial contributions specifically earmarked for the impacted Islands. Have they done so yet or announced the setting up of the same?

No. What they are seeking to do, intentionally or otherwise, is to upstage Minnis and to make him look even more incompetent than he might well be (the jury is still out on whether or not Minnis is up to speed). The Ingraham era is, indeed, over. The ghost of a politically humiliated and vanquished Christie needs to go back, wherever it rose from, and rest peacefully.

Remember the last hurricane on Christie’s watch? Allegedly over $100m were donated by the private sector. To this very day, impacted Bahamians are still awaiting “hurricane relief supplies” and there was never a public accounting for the proceeds. How Minnis conducts himself and his regime over the next few months will determine his political success going into the 2022 general elections.

He can rise to the challenge or he can simply kiss it all good bye. He has been baptised by water....next time the fire. Keep Ingraham and Christie right where they are....on the outside looking in and seeking to kick the door down or jump through the window. They miss, obviously, sitting at the table. Yes, we do need all hands on deck, but Minnis would be the biggest jack ass in the world to present a platform to these two relics of the past.

Imagine President Trump (the greatest thing to happen to the USA and the world since sliced bread) accepting an offer from former Presidents Bill Clinton; Barrack Obama or even George Bush to assist him in responding to a natural disaster? To God then, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H. BODIE, Jr.

Nassau,

September 13, 2019.