Who is this man Fred Mitchell?

Would the real Fred Mitchell please stand up?

tribune242 edtorial



AS SOON as he arrived at the office yesterday morning a Tribune staff member went to this newspaper's "morgue" in search of a certain file. The night before he had heard a comment over channel 14 by Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell that -- in view of Mr Mitchell's political past-- startled him. He wondered if his memory were playing tricks with him. The files, he was certain, would set him straight.

He said he did not listen to the full show, but just heard a comment by Mr Mitchell on the defection of BDM Cassius Stuart to the FNM.

This week after 13 years of trying to break through on the political scene, the Bahamas Democratic Movement was officially dissolved by its leader Cassius Stuart and merged with the FNM. Under Mr Stuart's leadership, the BDM was a harsh critic of both Prime Minister Ingraham and Opposition Leader Christie.

"It is safe to conclude," Mr Stuart had once said, "that both the PLP and the FNM are major failures." He listed those failures to include education, crime, defence, immigration and the environment. In fact, in his opinion, they had failed at everything.

Over the years Mr Stuart and his party did everything possible to drive a wedge between the two major parties to attract public attention to his third party. Mr Stuart and a colleague went so far as to barge into the House of Assembly while in session and handcuff themselves to the Speaker's mace to protest the "unfair gerrymandering of the constituency boundaries by the FNM administration." The House was suspended. Mr Stuart and his colleague were jailed for two days, then released without being charged.

This week Mr Stuart and six of his members, threw in the towel and joined the FNM, convinced that a third party in the context of Bahamian politics was not viable. He, and his followers, had finally decided to make their public contribution through the ranks of the governing party.

Commenting on their decision, Mr Mitchell had said that as a result of Mr Stuart joining the FNM, he would have a lot of explaining to do with the public, because of his severe criticism over the years of the FNM. All of a sudden, he then ups and joins the FNM. Mr Mitchell wondered why?

In Thursday's edition of The Tribune Mr Mitchell reiterated that Mr Stuart had much explaining to do because only a few weeks ago he was "bashing the government over BIC." The whole affair seemed odd to Mr Mitchell.

We would now like the real Fred Mitchell -- one time PLP member, PDF founder and leader, Senator occupying an FNM seat, PLP Minister, later PLP in opposition -- to please stand up. Are we dealing with the pre-1992 Mitchell, who by then had worn many faces, or the Fred Mitchell, who had rejoined the PLP, became a Minister of that government and is now a PLP in Opposition? Who in fact is Fred Mitchell?

He was called an opportunist as he veered from one party to the next in his search for the right path to become prime minister.

In his previous life he held his traditional ceremony under the fig tree when he burned the Bahamas Constitution and sent its ashes to then Prime Minister Lynden Pindling "as a reminder of how our country is being destroyed." At the time of this act of bravado when he warned that he would "smite every enemy that dares to launch out against" him, he was leader of the People's Democratic Party (PDP). When he launched his "Third Force" in 1989, he wanted then Cooper's Town MP Hubert Ingraham (Independent) -- now Prime Minister -- to become a part of his organisation.

Mr Mitchell's ambition was to inflict a resounding defeat on the PLP. In December, 1990, he declared that Sir Lynden, the so-called "Father of the Nation" was irrelevant to the Bahamas. "It is time," he said, "that the Bahamian people consign him to the scrap heap of history."

Of course, Mr Christie, then the Independent member for Centreville, who was on the verge of rejoining the PLP, did not escape Mr Mitchell's sarcastic tongue. "He ought to be ashamed of himself walking around with his head high, calling himself Mr Centreville," Mr Mitchell commented.

"We find tremendous resentment on the part of young and old because, without so much as by your leave, he ends up back in the PLP," said Mr Mitchell.

The very same place Mr Mitchell himself ended a short time later when the FNM refused to run him as an FNM candidate.

But before they again embraced him into the fold, the PLP had dismissed him as a "political upstart and troublemaker ... a spoilt brat who deserves a serious spanking."

And so, as Mr Mitchell, wonders why Mr Stuart joined the FNM, we would like the real Fred Mitchell to stand up. Who is this man Fred Mitchell?

All we know for certain is that his one burning ambition was to become Prime Minister of the Bahamas. Has that flame gone out, or does that ambition still burn strong? It would be good to have the answers. Maybe Mr Mitchell would now oblige.

April 15, 2011

tribune242 edtorial

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