The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Halson Moultrie’s resignation from the Free National Movement (FNM) should’ve come as no surprise to Bahamians who have been keeping abreast of his every move as House Speaker and Nassau Village MP. Moultrie had become increasingly critical of the FNM for the seemingly asymmetrical power vested in the Cabinet or executive branch of the Minnis administration as opposed to the legislative branch of FNM backbenchers – a situation that has existed in the House of Assembly for centuries, dating back to 1729 – 292 years ago.

Moultrie drew no sympathy from many Bahamians struggling with mortgage and rent payments over his incessant complaints about the shoddy state of his Parliamentary office. While Moultrie griped about the embarrassing condition of his office, Bahamians watched in horror the NB12 News story of a 30-year-old single mother of three kids talk about her harrowing ordeal of being homeless in dangerous Nassau, after losing her job due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NB12 story should’ve been a telltale sign to the disgruntled House Speaker that the nation has far more pressing issues to address. I have been following Bahamian politics since 1987. During that 34 year span, the House of Assembly has had eight House Speakers, inclusive of Moultrie. I cannot recall Dr Kendal Major (PLP), Alvin Smith (FNM), Oswald Ingraham (PLP), Italia Johnson (FNM), Vernon Symonette (FNM), Milo Butler, Jr (PLP) or Sir Clifford Darling (PLP) ever being a thorn in the side of their respective governments like Moultrie has been to the Minnis administration. Moultrie seems to be on a quest to transform a Parliamentary system in five years that has been in existence for nearly 300 years. But I think there’s more than meets the eye to this story.

Both the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and the FNM have announced their first set of candidates for the 2022 general election, 17 for the FNM and 18 for the PLP. Conspicuously absent from the FNM’s list is Moultrie. In late October, Moultrie told a newspaper that the FNM won’t win Nassau Village without him as the candidate for that constituency. Moultrie’s claim came a few days after an online political site stated that the FNM hierarchy was dropping the outspoken Nassau Village MP as its standard bearer – information Moultrie obviously was privy to.

By resigning before the FNM made public its alleged official decision regarding his fate, Moultrie shrewdly preempted the governing party by resigning. In doing so, Moultrie, I believe, wants the Bahamian people to view his situation as him dumping the FNM and not vice versa. In closing, I will add that Moultrie’s claim about the FNM not being able to win Nassau Village in 2022 is a moot point. His 2017 victory in Nassau Village had more to do with the FNM’s unprecedented propaganda machinery on Facebook than with him as an individual candidate.

Even had Moultrie received the nomination, I don’t foresee a win for the FNM in that constituency no matter who the FNM candidate is. With the PLP not wanting anything to do with him, and the FNM apparently washing its hands of him, the best case scenario for Moultrie is to simply retire from frontline politics, rather than going through the embarrassing ordeal of being soundly defeated as an independent candidate.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama,

February 6, 2021.