The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I wasn’t surprised that Dame Marguerite Pindling took the opportunity on Majority Rule Day to publicly upbraid executives of the Progressive Liberal Party for the perceived wrong done to her late husband’s name.

Of the current 32 PLP MPs and 12 PLP Senators, not one is a Pindling.

The readership would recall newspaper rumours of Dame Marguerite publicly campaigning for her daughter, Monique, to get the PLP nod in Mangrove Cay and South Andros, in the months leading up to the 2021 general election.

This political move by the Pindling clan created quite a stir, as that constituency was already held by a PLP MP, Picewell Forbes, who would announce his plans to not run again.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that Dame Marguerite mentioned Sir Lynden transitioning from Nassau to South Andros in the 1960s.

Be that as it may, the PLP top brass, despite the politicking of Dame Marguerite and Monique, elected to run Leon Lundy instead.

It is quite possible that Dame Marguerite felt slighted and embarrassed by this move, in addition to other matters, and decided to vent her pent-up frustrations with the PLP.

What the nomination of Lundy suggested to onlookers is that Dame Marguerite carries very little weight within the PLP.

It also suggests that the Pindling brand has been greatly diminished within the PLP.

I believe that both Dame Marguerite and Sir Lynden held political aspirations for their children, with the aim of cementing their political dynasty.

In 1992, Michelle Pindling-Sands ran on the PLP ticket in Yamacraw, which was represented by the legendary Janet Bostwick.

Sir Lynden was a contemporary of Jamaican Prime Minister Micheal Manley, who was the political heir of his father, Norman Manley, leader of the People’s National Party and the first premier of Jamaica.

Another Caribbean statesman Pindling was contemporary with was Sir Vere C Bird, who served as premier and prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda.

His son, Lester, would become prime minister in 1994 - six years before Pindling passed away. Another political dynasty would be the one Grantley Adams established in Barbados.

His son, Tom Adams, would serve as prime minister between 1976-1985. The Birds, Adamses and Manleys established political dynasties in their respective Caribbean nations, something Pindling may have also entertained.

With none of his posterity being in Parliament or the Cabinet in the current PLP regime, it is not surprising that the Pindling name is no longer in the political limelight.

Unlike Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis, Perry Christie engaged the Pindling family in his administrations.

In 2002, he appointed Michelle Pindling-Sands to the Senate and in 2014 he appointed Dame Marguerite as governor general. Christie may have felt deeply indebted to the Pindling family, as it was Sir Lynden who endorsed him as his successor to the PLP helm in 1997 over the late Dr Bernard Nottage and Philip Galanis.

It was Pindling who expelled Christie from the PLP in 1984 or thereabouts after the latter criticised the party hierarchy due to the damning report that came out of the Commission of Inquiry.

Pindling would subsequently reconcile with Christie in 1990, by reinstating him to the PLP and the Cabinet.

In light of all this, one can appreciate Christie’s indebtedness to Sir Lynden and Dame Marguerite. With Davis, however, his connections to the Pindling brand do not appear to be as deep as Christie’s.

To be clear, Davis as prime minister reserves the right to appoint whomever he desires to serve in his administration.

Those appointed serve at the pleasure of Davis.

In actuality, Davis has done nothing wrong by not engaging any of the Pindlings.

Still, the mindset within the Pindling clan just might be that this administration is inundated with Johnny-come-latelies and persons who are not bonafide PLPs, while Monique Pindling, whose father helped in solidifying the party as a viable political organisation during the 1960s, was denied the opportunity to run in her father’s former constituency.

Looking at the current PLP legislative caucus, probably half of them were either teens or young adults when Pindling was voted out of office over 30 years ago.

A few were in primary school. The PLP has dramatically evolved. It is no longer Pindling’s PLP. This is a reality that Dame Marguerite might be finding difficult to accept.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama

January 11, 2023.