"I'm just looking for a bright future," says Edison Key
War In PLP - Key Leaves Party
24/02/2004
Claiming that forces within the party have launched an all out war to decapitate him politically, former Senator Edison Key has resigned from the PLP.
"I see this situation getting worse each day and I figured maybe this is the time to just give it all [up] if that's what they want," Mr. Key said in an exclusive interview with the Bahama Journal Monday. "I was in my bed and this came to me that maybe I should just relinquish my ties with the PLP for the time being."
He added, "Let them do what they want to do, maybe they're better off without me."
Mr. Key's change of heart comes exactly one week after the Journal revealed in an exclusive report that he had resigned from the upper chamber on January 10.
Last Monday, when asked by the Journal if he intended to resign from the party, Mr. Key said, "I've been a part of the PLP from 1970. I've been through all the struggles and trials and tribulations. I ran here in Abaco when you [would have been considered] an outcast to even identify with the PLP, especially a white man in an all white area."
He said then that he would not leave the party.
But he said Monday that things have changed since last week and that some members of the party have lined up to throw daggers at him.
Mr. Key said in a letter to PLP National Chairman Raynard Rigby that, "This decision has come about due to the unfortunate chain of events that have occurred over the past 20 months culminating in my resignation as Senator in the new Progressive Liberal Party Government, effective January 10, 2004. Kindly convey my very best wishes to all Stalwart Councilors when next council convenes."
Mr. Rigby said in a release to the press last night that, "As is the custom, the letter will be forwarded to the National General Council of the party and to the leadership council."
He added, "It is with regret that we have received Senator Key's resignation. It is most unfortunate. The party will continue its work in Abaco and the rest of The Bahamas."
Mr. Key reiterated to the Journal Monday, "It creates deep pain, it goes right to the soul and that's what I've felt for the last year and ten months under this administration. I really feel sorry for them because it seems that they have no direction and no director.
"Maybe that's saying it pretty harsh, but I think it's time for the people of The Bahamas to wake up and get a government that will give The Bahamas back to the people. It's now become a government that's become almost a dictatorial system and it's time for a change"
But he insisted that now was not the time to reveal the contents of his letter of resignation from the Senate, a copy of which he said has been sent to Senate President Sharon Wilson.
Last Thursday, Mr. Key told the Journal that his meeting with the prime minister "went well" and that he had a "frank" discussion with the nation's leader.
He said, though, that he feels that he no longer belongs as a member of the party so he has opted to pull out. But he said he was not prepared to align himself with any opposition party because the Free National Movement, in particular, is also facing a leadership crisis.
"I'm just looking for a bright future," said Mr. Key, who was in Nassau on Monday.
When asked whether he thought there was a viable alternative to the PLP, the former Senator said, "If there were a strong opposition, the PLP [would be] in trouble. But even the opposition needs [to get] it together.
"You see, I know how to fight the opposition, but I never had any ammunition to fight the PLP. I have no bullets that can penetrate the PLP. It's like shooting one of your own family. You don't do that. I'm talking in a political sense now."
The Journal also asked Mr. Key what it will take for him to rejoin the PLP.
He said, "Hope and help - and help and hope that really means it, [a leader who] says what [he] means and means what [he] says.
"Good leadership."
Asked if he may consider joining an opposition party in the future? He said, "You never know. The king dies, a new king comes up."
Mr. Key also said he was hurt by a column that was published Sunday on bahamasuncensored.com, a website that is the offspring of fredmitchelluncensored.com, which says its views do not represent the views of Minister Fred Mitchell, his Ministry or the Government of The Bahamas.
The column states, "The PLP, like most other parties, has its hardliners. There is a herd instinct. And so not withstanding the fact of all the history that has gone on before, the immediate reaction of too many was to denounce him, to remind him of his race, and to tell him as impolitely as possible go about his business.
"Then there are those who have impugned his motives by saying that the real reasons are economic and the fact that certain personal benefits did not come to him. But all politics is about personal benefit of one kind or another. Another set urged the PLP to cut Mr. Key off at the knees, decapitate him politically if it could be done.
