The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

This year of 2022 is the second year of the arrival of our long lost and not missed cousin, COVID-19. The last two years were devastating and problematic for thousands of Bahamians, especially for those who were unemployed at that time or disabled. The inordinate curfews and lock downs did not help. In fact, the economy was on life support and mental and personal frustrations were the order of the day. Following the fateful general elections last September which saw the election of Philip “Brave” Davis and his team to high office.

I have been rightfully accused of being a partisan of the Prime Minister. This support goes back more than 30 years. Of the three prime ministers we have had so far since the untimely death of the late great and deeply lamented Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, Brave, in my considered view, is more like him than all of the others combined. In fact, Brave is a prototype and natural successor of Sir Lynden.

Brave ‘trained’ to become Prime Minister. He did so and studied all of the play books. He has been able to live and see all of the good, the bad and the ugly of the antics and tactics of his predecessors in high office. Brother Ingraham, God bless his soul, started out well and continued his best to do so while PM for three non-consecutive terms. He did what he could have done, but he often appeared abrasive and uncouth... a Bahamian Donald J Trump.

Brother Christie, God bless him also, appeared to be more attracted to the pomp and pageantry of the office. He did what he could have done, but apart from Urban Renewal and the National Training Institute, his legacy will be elusive. Doctor Minnis, God bless him too, was draconian, even if he meant well. His public persona did little to assist his personal political likability. Christie was likable but he was widely seen as vacillating and, of course, with all due respect, lazy in the extreme.

Under their assorted regimes, the national debt of The Bahamas ballooned over ten billion dollars while productivity went down big time. The slow economic death of Grand Bahama generally and Freeport in particular, still in progress, was ushered in by a dismal international economy and many of the cock-eyed fiscal initiatives or lack of them by successive leadership across the board. The road ahead for that island and other areas of our nation will not be an easy one or a joy ride.

Brave appears and acts as a nationalist who will carry All Bahamians across the finish line regardless of politics; race or creed. I venture to suggest that all will be well at the end of the day. 2022 is poised to be the best year in The Bahamas for a long time. The opposition, sadly, is still shell shocked and it may take them years to rebuild. Pintard is a default leader, just like how Minnis was. Sands harbours ambitions of becoming leader of the rump FNM as soon as possible and by extension Prime Minister, God forbid, of this wonderful nation. Pintard can and should expect a political back stab at the earliest opportunity.

Shanendon Cartwright (FNM-St Barnabas), clearly, is the future of the FNM. The ignoble Minnis era is over. Pintard is likable, but comes across, in my view, as too strident and loquacious. Sands is like a possible Brutus. The alternative? Only one...Cartwright. It will not really matter, however, at the end of the day. For any of them to ‘beat’ Brave in the near future or at all is dismal at best and improbable in real life. The road ahead is promising and the nation is back Big time.

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr

Nassau,

March 23, 2022.