The Tribune

“Egomania - obsessive egotism or self-centredness... narcissism, arrogance, boastfulness, imperiousness, cockiness, affectation, airs, show, ostentation, vainglory, braggadocio... “

Parliament Square has been the site of extraordinary events in the nation’s political history. On April 27, 1965, in protest against the gerrymandered results of the Boundaries Report and the UBP’s intransigence on the Report, Leader of the Opposition Lynden Pindling famously threw out the Speaker’s Mace from an eastern window of the House of Assembly to an expectant crowd in the Square.

Milo Butler, the civil rights giant and PLP Member of Parliament, tossed out the hour glasses used to limit speaking time during debates. Black Tuesday became a seminal event in the march to majority rule.

Last Wednesday, with Queen Victoria stonily looking on, Speaker of the House Halston Moultrie presided over an event in the Square termed an “Open Parliament”.

Like Donald Trump, one should never underestimate Mr Moultrie’s capacity for grandstanding and spectacular farce, and lust for egomaniacal stunts and publicity.

A reporter on ZNS TV referred to Moultrie’s stunt as “the first open parliament”. There was no qualifier such as “so-called”. One had to wonder whether the reporter really believed this was a meeting of Parliament.

Regardless of Moultrie’s label for his stunt, it was certainly not a meeting of Parliament. Furthermore, for generations every meeting of Parliament has been open to the public and, in more recent years, televised as well.

Sadly, many in the media failed to contextualize the event politically and with regard to a better understanding of basic civics. Still smarting from his waning influence and the platform of the Speaker’s Chair, akin to the last drops of sand in an hour glass announcing “time’s up”, Mr Moultrie resorted to another grand farce, mocking the great history and events that have taken place in Parliament Square.

History may assign the event a comic footnote, combining cant, irony and laughter-inducing asides. As reported in The Nassau Guardian: “A day earlier, both Princess Margaret Hospital and Doctors Hospital said they had no space to accommodate any more patients. There was very little social distancing with scores of people squeezed under two tents. While police were present, they made no effort to enforce the social distancing protocol.”

Had the police interfered to enforce the law, Mr Moultrie may have deemed this a threat to the rule of law and democracy, despite the fact those gathered may have breached the law and the Emergency Orders passed by Parliament.

Mr Moultrie did a take-off on his apparent new role as Health and Sanitation Commissioner cum circus conductor: “We tried our best to separate the tents but what happened was the announcement by the Commissioner of Police drew everyone to the doorsteps of the House of Assembly.

“We tried to disperse them under the tents after that event, but we have been challenged by that because the podium for the speakers is in that tent near the steps of the House of Assembly and persons wanted to get as close as possible.

“We finally got them to spread out a bit into the tents, but we are very concerned about that. We have the sanitization. We are sanitizing persons’ hands.

“We are asking them to keep on their masks. The challenge has been the six feet because of the distancing. But we are hoping and praying that this does not result in being a super spreader event.”

It is not clear whether the Speaker has been vaccinated or how many of the other attendees were vaccinated at the time. Approximately 100 people gathered for the event, which Mr Moultrie said included seven speakers who had 30 upto minutes each. In the event it dragged on for two hours and ten minutes.

The Guardian reported: “[Mr Moultrie] said the event, which was held in Parliament Square, aimed to allow the public to express concerns.” If this was the main purpose of the event why couldn’t it have been held at another location with proper social distancing? Or remotely online?

Alas, holding the event in Parliament Square gave Mr Moultrie and some others an iconic setting to display their overweening egos and to politically grandstand leading up to the general election.

Mr Moultrie and some other attendees are candidates in the upcoming election. They used a supposedly national public event for their own narrow political purpose, a charge a number of them have made of others.

There is a political charlatanism of a number of those who attended the self-serving event. Mr Moultrie is a self-absorbed political figure who hides behind supposed high-minded principle but is really an egotist more wedded to his self-advancement than the good of the country.

The event dissolved into even greater farce as the Provost Marshall stood on the steps of the House of Assembly to prorogue Parliament.

In the background standing behind the Commissioner of Police who is the Provost Marshall, was a forlorn, flattened and bewildered Speaker, who appeared to realize his days as Speaker and his temporary notoriety were coming to an abrupt finale.

His capacity for antics and political mischief were near collapse, the farce ending with the proverbial whimper on a day in Parliament Square where he hoped his event would be a big bang garnering him more press. In the event, the main story of the day was the prorogation of Parliament.

Mr Moultrie may have a few more acts before the General Election on September 16. He has reportedly joined the United Coalition Party, which includes a coalition of political wannabes including Cassius Stuart, who is now running for at least a third party, and former FNM MPs Reece Chipman and Frederick McAlpine.

Mr Stuart is reportedly the leader of the new party. One wonders how long it will take for this party to collapse under its own meagre weight and infighting over the leadership.

Messrs Chipman and McAlpine spent most of their four plus years in the House sulking and fuming that their egos were not satiated by an appointment to the Cabinet, with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis apparently failing to recognize their genius.

Meanwhile, another group has formed a coalition of independents, both a contradiction in terms and a recognition of the essential need for political parties in our parliamentary system.

There has been a perennially baseless argument that Bahamian voters need more political choices.

There are quite a number of choices, including the two major parties; the Democratic National Alliance, which is likely headed to even greater irrelevance; the new Coalition of Independents; the United Coalition Party and other independents.

There is also this choice as suggested by a dear friend through an anecdote. A young nephew told the friend that he does not like the choices for the upcoming election, another perennial cry.

Her response: “Then why don’t you and your friends join a party and offer yourself for election by the people?”

By the way, what is this obsession with the “coalition” language? It represents the egotistical mind-set of many who do not want to be team players in a political party in which egos and ambitions must often be subsumed for the greater good of the organization.

The celebrated four-star American General George S. Patton (1885-1945) ranked as one of the two greatest US generals put on the battlefield during World War II. He famously offered a classic reminder to all those who possess power and fame:

“For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honour of triumph, a tumultuous parade.

“In the procession came trumpeters, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments.

“The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.”

When the upcoming election is over, the new government will be either a PLP or an FNM administration. The Bahamian people will once again affirm their desire and commitment to a vibrant two-party democracy.

There is goodwill and talent in a number of those in other parties. They will have to decide whether they want to continue losing in general elections or whether they want to join one of the major parties and be involved in governance, whether as the Government or the Official Opposition.

Both parties would welcome and need talent at every level of the party and government. The best leaders, future and past, are those who have the capacity for greater self-reflection and humility, and not those who sit on the side-lines, sneering and jeering at others out of pique or resentment or unresolved envy, such as has Mr Moultrie and others.