Dear Editor,
The passing of former Senator Rodney Moncur, while a shock to many Bahamians, was not totally unexpected by me. The last time I physically saw him was about three weeks ago, as he entered and I exited the East Street Branch of Super Value. He was dressed, as usual, in his signature dark suit and bowler hat. We briefly greeted each other and exchanged pleasantries. Little did I know or suspect that would have been the final time we met on this side of eternity.
Rodney and I were childhood neighbors. He and his maternal family lived in the residential area off Poinciana Drive known widely as Black Village. My paternal family and I lived a stone’s throw away on the main Wulff Road, immediately west of Market Street, on the premises where The Great Commission Ministries are now located.
While we did not interact regularly, we knew each other. Rodney excelled at Mable Walker and C.C. Sweeting Junior/Senior High Schools. I was privileged to attend what is now Columbus Primary School and later the Government High School, then located on Poinciana Drive.
Black Village, due to its proximity to what was then Jumbey Village—an iconic cultural and entertainment venue for Bahamians and visitors alike—was also a part of the homegrown experience. Jumbey Village was the brainchild of the late Hon. Edmund “Muscle & Guts” Moxey, a former Member of the House of Assembly. I believe Rodney may have fashioned himself after Brother Moxey—quite successfully.
Rodney went on to become a trade unionist with The Bahamas Taxi Cab Union and flirted with leadership positions within his self-created Workers’ Party back in the 1980s. He invited me to become the de facto and de jure leader of the same, but being a lifelong apostle at the feet of the late, great, and deeply lamented Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, I declined.
Later in life, Rodney entered frontline politics and ran for election to the House of Assembly on at least two occasions—unsuccessfully. Those occasions were memorable in that when he made his declarations, as required by parliamentary law, he habitually claimed to own a few coconut trees, assorted crops, and maybe one or two farm animals! He was, unfortunately, never elected.
After the coup d’état against the Hon. Dr. Hubert A. Minnis (FNM–Killarney), led by the Hon. Loretta Butler-Turner, then the FNM Member for Long Island, Rodney was appointed as a Senator by her. With all due respect, despite his decades of political agitation and a “seat” at the head table, he did not, in my view, distinguish himself as a legislator—but he surely did, by his own admission, take full advantage of the perks and privileges of being a Senator!
Brother Moncur, like myself, eventually excelled in his own indomitable fashion as a media personality and talk show host with a large and devoted following. At some point during one of the administrations of former Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham, Rodney was appointed a Justice of the Peace and served the nation well in that capacity.
It was difficult for many Bahamians, myself included, to truly know his mindset or modus operandi. Some called him a gadfly. Others called him everything except a child of God. Whatever he was called or referred to as, he did things his own unique way. Rodney will be missed—if only for his fabled and provocative style and commentary. Was he an enigma, or simply ahead of his time? Rest on, Rodney, and may your soul repose in the bosom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Ortland H. Bodie, Jr.
Business Consultant & Talk Show Host
