The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE late great and deeply lamented, Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, the main Founding Father of this wonderful nation, was a master communicator. Apart from his many other attributes, he was able to clearly lay out is vision for The Bahamas in plain and understandable terms. There was little, if any, miscommunications between he and those with whom he was communicating. He also had the innate ability to fire up his listeners. We are all able to clearly recall the phrases which he was able to conjure up at the drop of a hat: ‘Lend Me Your Hand’; ‘Step Now’; and the iconic and immemorial ‘Bend or Break’ declaration to the Grand Bahama Port Authority decades ago.

All of the national institutions were crafted under his watch or transformed into the modern entities which they are today. He was able to sell his vision and platforms to the unwashed masses with a simplicity and ease which have never been matched before or since his era in Bahamian politics. Some of you may remember when Sir Lynden adopted the role of many of the players in our assorted industries. One day he was a Potter at the airport; the next he donned the uniform of a hotel worker and later on he worked as a garbage collector. Why did he, the ultimate political leader at that time, do what some may refer to as menial jobs?

As a master communicator, Sir Lynden, successfully, conveyed the salient message to all Bahamians, regardless of education or station in life that there was inherent dignity in work. These public antics were some of the reasons why he was able to wield political power for over Twenty(20) odd successive years. He was a great proponent of listening to the marginalized voices of the so called ordinary Bahamian and to then adopt them as his own.

We needed a Defence Force. The people spoke and he acted. We need a secure safety net in the form of National Insurance. The people spoke and he acted. Additional and refurbished airports and seaports were needed. Our health and medical facilities, such as they were, back in the 1960s and 1970s were in a bad state of repair and often lacked critical medication and trained personnel. Again, the people spoke and he acted. Having said all of the above it must never be forgotten that because Sir Lynden was a master communicator, that did not mean that he was unable or unwilling to communicate “chilling” messages to his detractors.

There was a time, way back then, when at a pivotal National Convention of the PLP, when a cabal led by the late Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, dared to publicly challenge Sir Lynden for the leadership of that party. In fact, that cabal was dead set or getting rid of Pindling or, in the extreme, resign en masse. Sir Lynden got wind of this potential coup and ascended the podium.

He boldly declared, and those words still ring out to this very day: ‘Fish; cut bait or get the hell out of the boat’! All hell broke loose within that convention and on the floor. Sir Cecil and his acolytes walked out of that hall, some never to return to the ample bosom of the pliant PLP. Sir Lynden emerged as the undisputed and unchallenged leader of the PLP. Interestingly, the Hon Hubert A Ingraham, who later overthrew Sir Lynden and became Prime Minister himself, was creased right up with Ping!

Even after Sir Cecil and his rump group basically relocated to Grand Bahama, they continued to be a minor political thorn in Sir Lynden’s flesh. Never one to back down from a political challenge, Sir Lynden, et al, travelled into Grand Bahama. It was at the now infamous Lewis Yard debacle that Sir Lynden directly stated to his detractors: ‘Draw Back or Draw Blood’. Again, all hell broke loose and the rest is history.

It took the FNM, under the translated leadership of a Pindling acolyte, the Hon Hubert A Ingraham, who had served Pindling well as a National Chairman of the iconic PLP and a very effective cabinet minister under Sir Lynden, close to 15 years to, finally, send Ping home. Mr Ingraham, may God continue to bless his soul, was able to drive Sir Lynden out due, principally in my view, to being a better strategist than the latter as opposed to a communicator. Ingraham is able to conceptualise grand plans (The Airport Gateway) but he was never an effective public speaker and had difficulties conveying his messages, such as they would have been (I Am a One Man Band).

Communications by our homegrown politicians has never been more critical than at this juncture. It cannot appear to be, almost incessantly, that there is a break down in cordial and successful communications between the national movers and shakers in The Bahamas. Where there are disagreements, especially involving matters of revenue and taxation, there is absolutely no need for an apparent adversarial posture. There is only one sovereign government here in The Bahamas and as such, it holds all of the trump cards.

I strongly suggest that where such postures exist that we all take a step back and appreciate that we are All in this exercise together. Lastly, the bloated Civil Service, especially those who are entrenched and parade around like peacocks, are terrible at mass communications or at all. Ordinary Bahamians have grave difficulties in accessing governmental services due to the stinking attitudes of many civil servants. Correspondence and simple applications are ignored for years and even decades.

The obtaining of a Crown Grant, may lie at the feet of the PM of the day But oftentimes applications Never even get to the desk of the PM. The continued success of this wonderful nation will depend, as it always has, on effective mass communication from the top to the bottom. To God then The Master Communicator, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE, Jr

Nassau,

August 25, 2024.