The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

A gentleman who I believe supports the Progressive Liberal Party asked me if I consider Clint Watson’s relocation from the Office of the Prime Minister as Press Secretary to ZNS (or the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas) a promotion? I told him no, considering that Watson, as Press Secretary, was the de facto mouthpiece of the Davis administration; having immediate access to Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis. For many thousands of Bahamians, Watson has become the face of the PLP.

Moreover, Watson was always included in Davis’ entourage when travelling abroad. Since September 2021, Watson has travelled to Africa, Europe, North and South America and Asia, where his gospel group, Shabach, performed at Expo 2020 Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. With his appointment as general manager at ZNS, I think it is safe to assume that whatever privileges Watson enjoyed as Press Secretary, he will no longer have. According to the OPM press release announcing his appointment at ZNS, it was stated that Watson “has served with distinction in his role of press secretary.”

It further stated that his initiatives at the OPM were instrumental in “helping to make this administration the most transparent in Bahamian history.” The last part of that sentence has led me to wonder if Watson had penned this press release, giving him the opportunity to toot his own horn? Whatever the case may be, if Watson, as the press release claims, served with distinction, why is he being moved from the OPM? Throughout his tenure as press secretary, there have been a few embarrassing hiccups that would suggest that Watson and the executive were not singing from the same hymnal.

I believe, and I could be wrong, that the PLP hierarchy has made the shrewd decision to remove Watson as the de facto mouthpiece of the Davis administration, as whatever popularity he had gained as host of Beyond the Headlines where he raked the previous government over the hot coals, has all but eroded, to the degree that even rank-and-file PLPs are annoyed at him. I believe that his “elevation” to the post of general manager at the Broadcasting Corporation is really a stealth demotion. Watson’s removal from the OPM is Davis’ way of restructuring his public relations team.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama,

June 14, 2023.