Dear Editor,
As you read this article, it is more than likely that Hurricane Erin, the first one for this season—which runs into November, according to the experts—would have brushed up against The Bahamas and should now be on its way to the eastern coast of the USA. Hopefully, Erin would have weakened considerably before doing so. I also hope and pray that there is no loss of life, which could have been prevented.
Having dispensed with meteorological issues, let’s look at the very sorry state of the major opposition party in our wonderful nation. I thank God, first of all, that He has allowed me to live a relatively long and exciting life so far. Because of this, I have done and seen many things. Well do I remember the cutting remarks made by the late Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, a founding member, if not “The Father,” of the once-promising FNM. He staked his political career and that of his then-colleagues, like the late Hon. James “Jimmy” Shepherd, the late Hon. Warren Levarity, the Hon. Sir Arthur A. Foulkes, and the Hon. Maurice Moore, et al.
It took those good gentlemen almost a decade or more to ignite a passionate adherence to the principles they espoused and to garner sufficient seats in the House of Assembly to become relevant and a real challenge to the PLP and Sir Lynden. Sir Cecil was regarded by many Bahamians as a leader—and maybe he was. Leaders come and they go. Sir Cecil, a brilliant legal mind, was, alas, unable to project what I refer to as the Absolutes of Leadership. I will delve further into this in a future submission.
For today, however, Sir Cecil and his breakaway colleagues had great difficulty selling themselves to a majority of the Bahamian electorate. Cecil, while a fairly okay orator, never had the ability to project empathy and comradeship with the unwashed masses. Sir Lynden, God bless his soul, was an orator unmatched. He was also able to walk and talk with multiple world leaders, unlike all of the prime ministers since his dethronement as prime minister at the hands of former PLP Chairman and Minister in Pindling’s assorted cabinets. Absolutes of leadership are God-given.
Some say that PM Davis is not a skilled orator. I beg to differ. Yes, his delivery style and body language are vastly different but much more effective than previous PMs, save and except Sir Lynden. Brother Davis always projects a down-to-earth approach to his public tasks; his words are measured and well-structured. He is a master at cutting to the chase and, unlike some other Bahamian politicians, he does not speak “word salad.” As a former well-experienced banker (Barclays Bank), he has a solid grasp on economics and high finance. Compare those putative leaders across the divide.
Bahamians are looking forward to greater participation and ownership of our booming economy. Business owners are constantly seeking ways and means to further expand their businesses. He has rolled out a number of game-changing public policy initiatives in the few short years that he has been in power. Those across the divide are now making outlandish promises. The most bogus one is that if they were to come back to power, their top priority would be a referendum on citizenship.
The Bahamas has more pressing concerns than to waste precious parliamentary time and resources on non-issues. As an individual trained in Constitutional Law, I am the first to agree to the necessity of regularizing persons born in the country to foreign parents. Is this, however, the time for this as we are reconstructing the nation across the board? In addition, if one were to listen carefully, he or she would hear the hoofbeats of horses across the road. The former esteemed leader and prime minister has been publicly humiliated and treated worse than a stepchild, for want of a better expression.
The political mules, which are now dominant over there, isolated and cast aside many of the former MPs and senators who served in Minnis’s cabinet and administration without public complaint. Now it would seem that those same persons whom Minnis elevated and brought to high office have stepped into their size 18 steel-toe boots and piled up on Minnis.
There are, I submit, audible hoofbeats of either horses or mules galloping behind them. Without Minnis being treated with dignity and respect, those people over there will again go down in flames. A house, it has been said, divided against itself cannot stand. To God then, in all things, be the glory.
Respectfully,
Ortland H. Bodie, Jr.
Business Consultant & Talk Show Host
