Tribune242 Editorial:
YESTERDAY, after seven and a half long years of being buffeted by a cruel political storm, the leaking little dingy, mv SS Elizabeth dropped anchor, and her disillusioned captain stepped ashore -- a beaten, but a free man at last.
In July, 2007 Elizabeth MP Malcolm Adderley -- through a story about a leaking little dingy -- shared with Bahamians how his party had shunned him, even threw up road blocks to engineer his defeat as the PLP candidate for Elizabeth in the May election of that year.
"This dingy," Mr Adderley told the House of Assembly two months after his election victory, "had holes from front to back. It had no sail; it had no motor; it did not even have a rudder, but, far away from Elizabeth I was lost at sea. At the time the sea was raging, the waves were blowing and there were those on the shore who were anxiously awaiting with baited breath to see the motor vessel SS Elizabeth sink. Despite the tremendous courage of the crew on the mv Elizabeth, there were times when they became discouraged because of the cries of those from Elizabeth. But those who stood on the shore looking from without ... Yes, sir, it was not an easy voyage."
At the time when reporters were trying to interview Mr Adderley to find out his political future, we predicted that this was his farewell speech and that it would only be a matter of time before he, like the late Cecil Wallace Whitfield and the Dissident Eight many years before, would be breathing a sigh of relief. "Free at last, my soul is free at last!" were the departing words of Sir Cecil as he walked out of the House and the Cabinet of former Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling.
Mr Adderley recalled the early days of the PLP, a party, he said, that had the "distinction of being built by the blood, sweat and tears of hardworking men and women of humble beginnings, but proud of their commitment to uplift the well being and standard of the people."
It was a party that had a dream. It was a dream that, despite what our detractors will say today, even The Tribune believed in and supported. But the party lost its way. It wasn't long before it espoused the dream of one man -- and it was more than one dared to suggest that there might be another way, another dream.
As Mr Adderley told the House yesterday the souls of those who had sacrificed so much to build their party would ache as a "result of the venom and ill will that is displayed almost on a daily basis on any member who tries to correct its ills."
Gutter politics had entered the arena. Victimisation was the party's battle cry during the Pindling era; vicious character assassination was the way to eliminate an adversary. Party members were even expected to compromise their consciences for "the Chief." The late Carlton Francis, who had contributed so much to his party and his leader, discovered in his dying days how it felt to be mocked and thrown on the political pyre because there came a day when he decided to follow his conscience and not his leader. Who will ever forget the night that Sir Lynden, speaking from a public platform, spotted the dying man, pointed him out to the crowd and scoffed that there went a three-piece suit, but all he could see was suit. It was true that on Mr Francis' shrunken frame all one could see was a baggy suit, but what cruelty, especially from a nation's leader. That was the depth to which the party had fallen -- under Pindling there were many "nights of the long swords" and scrapping in the gutter.
In 2002 Mr Perry Christie won a one term election on the promise that he was leading the "New PLP." It wasn't long before it was realised that the style of execution might have been different, but the same bitter, viciousness was being conducted in the open. While Mr Adderley maintained a dignified silence, the party's hatchetmen were about their dirty work -- in the words of Mr Adderley -- constantly and perpetually "undermining the duly elected Member of Parliament in total disregard and blatant disrespect of the will of the people of Elizabeth."
His greatest anger was levelled at the party's leader who apparently did nothing to discourage those who were actively campaigning to unseat him in his Elizabeth constituency -- "brazenly knocking on doors, even dispensing T-shirts, groceries, even handing out Mother's Day gifts and cards, indicating to constituents that they were the party's choice for 2012."
If Mr Christie expected Mr Adderley to remain a loyal party supporter -- as he claimed he did-- then he should have taken note when Mr Adderley in 2007 ran up the red flag on the SS Elizabeth informing him that there were dangerous shoals ahead threatening to wreck both of them. Mr Christie, true to form, chose to ignore the warning, obviously waiting for time to heal all and relieve him of the bother. It is always amazing when the inevitable happens, Mr Christie innocently rolls his eyes and appears to be taken by surprise.
Mr Adderley has stepped aside for the sake of his people in Elizabeth, who he acknowledged needed a representative who had the full support of the party he represented. Mr Adderley did not have that support.
This weekend Mr Christie and his party will have to look at the collective damage they have wrought and decide what road they will take into the future.
January 07, 2010
tribune242
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.