The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

My interest was piqued by a Nassau Guardian article pertaining to a Progressive Liberal Party Cabinet minister's claim in Parliament that the Free National Movement opposed independence. The PLP minister is correct. However, I wish the minister would have demonstrated the level of bipartisanship that senior PLP statesman George Smith showed when he corrected an untruth about FNM delegates to the Constitutional Conference leaving before an agreement was reached in 1972.

I also wish the minister would've mentioned the PLP and Sir Lynden O Pindling not supporting Labour Party Leader Sir Randol Fawkes' call in the House of Assembly in August 1966 for a select "committee to explore the question of national Independence" from Great Britain. Fawkes' proposal was approximately four months prior to Majority Rule Day and over six years prior to Independence in 1973. Fawkes, in his memoir The Faith that Moved the Mountain, did mention the petty reaction of PLP co-founder Cyril Stevenson to his independence proposal, in addition to the non-response of Sir Lynden, who was present in Parliament. I sincerely believe that the PLP leadership back then viewed Sir Randol as a threat. This can explain why the PLP top brass elbowed Sir Randol out of the party ahead of the April 1968 snap general election, after the death of Uriah McPhee. The party realised that it no longer needed Fawkes, as it did to secure its first general election win on January 10, 1967.

Regarding Constitution Day on January 7, 1964, I stand to be corrected by the editor, but I also think that the PLP was not thrilled with the idea of internal self-rule under the United Bahamian Party. Whatever one's views are regarding Sir Roland Symonette, Sir Stafford Sands and the UBP hierarchy, their achievement of internal self-governance laid the groundwork for independence. UBP sympathizers can easily bring up the issue of The Bahamas achieving its first Constitution in 1964, which was not supported by the then opposition. Given the context of the situation under the UBP, I can understand why Pindling and the PLP were apprehensive about the move to internal self-rule by the UBP. By the same token, I also understand why the FNM opposed independence under the PLP back then, as there were already grave concerns about the leadership showing dictatorial tendencies. Context is very important in discussing why the FNM was apprehensive about independence.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama

February 22, 2023.