The Worker's Party dissolves to join DNA
By NOELLE NICOLLS
Tribune Staff Reporter
nnicolls@tribunemedia.net
THE Worker's Party dissolved its organisation yesterday after 35 years in politics, to join the newly formed Democratic National Alliance (DNA).
Leader Rodney Moncur said the party's membership is collectively migrating to the DNA "to respond to the call of the people of Elizabeth and, indeed, to the cry of voters elsewhere throughout the country for a single, united alternative to this FNM-PLP partnership.".
He said members of the party are ready to go to work.
"We have been in the field for over 30 years. We are mature men and women. There are no egos or hang ups. We are prepared to submit to a leader who will lead based on principle, based on the best interests of the nation. We are now ready to work and lock down," said Mr Moncur.
While campaigning in the Elizabeth bye-election, Mr Moncur said the party got the message from constituents that it would be good "if all the small parties could form a united group."
"We started hearing this joint dismissal of the FNM and PLP clearly in the Elizabeth bye-election in February 2010, when, for the first time in Bahamian history, a frightening percentage of the voters failed to show up at the polls leaving the hapless and embarrassed PLP and FNM to engage in a virtual dogfight, right down to the last vote," said Mr Moncur.
Mr Moncur said the nation was at a critical point in its political history, where for the first time, the Bahamian electorate are in a position to make a fair comparison between the FNM and PLP.
"Up until 1992, the FNM, in an independent Bahamas, had never been tried and tested in Government by the Bahamian people; and the PLP enjoyed overwhelming public support. So it was naturally impossible for any third party that would have been formed during those years to attract the support and build the capacity to challenge both the PLP and the FNM.
"By 2002, the Bahamian people had tried the PLP in Government for 25 years and in opposition for 10 years; and similarly the people had experienced the FNM in some form or other in opposition for 25 years and in Government for 10 years," said Mr Moncur.
"It was at that point that the serious evaluation of the two parties began to develop; it was at this point that voters for the first time could easily compare the two parties and their styles of governance," he said.
Mr Moncur said Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie are "equally balanced", because they represent "the two sides of the Pindling coin."
"Christie is hopelessly indecisive, Ingraham is dangerously rash and impetuous. While Christie claims to be people-oriented and compassionate, Ingraham painfully demonstrates abrasiveness and an utter lack of compassion. Whereas Christie is prone to become bogged down in endless counsels and analyses, Ingraham crawls up high on the rock of stubborn pig-headedness," said Mr Moncur.
"Whereas Christie's Ministers were a wild and uncontrolled bunch, having little respect for him, Ingraham's Ministers are said to be cowering in fear as he shouts them down and makes them submit to his one-man, iron-hand rule," he said.
Mr Moncur lamented the decision of the Bahamas Democratic Movement and members of the National Development Party (NDP) for allowing themselves to be "wooed and swallowed up by the old guard, the hapless and hopeless FNM-PLP, instead of joining forces with the DNA".
The country has never seen such an "upheaval" and "deep-seated rupture in the electorate" since 1971, when the Free PLP was formed, according to Mr Moncur. This climate has allowed Branville McCartney to emerge as "a credible and capable alternative," said Mr Moncur. He said Mr McCartney is the "medicine that will cure the country of both Ingraham and Christie".
Mr Moncur lamented the fact that both the Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) and the National Development Party (NDP) allowed themselves to be "wooed and swallowed up by the old guard, the hapless and hopeless FNM-PLP," instead of joining forces with the DNA.
May 31, 2011
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