by Simon
In crushing the reform spirit within, labelled as traitorous, Mr. Christie demonstrated that in circling the wagons, the PLP is mostly a closed political organization, majority-ruled by appointed Stalwart Councillors, rather than elected branch representatives as is the case with most modern political parties founded on democratic principles.
This is in keeping with the party’s intolerance of dissent, which is the back story to the events of last week. That story has been unfolding for decades, featuring some of the central players in a drama that exploded with fury over the past few weeks, culminating in Mr. Christie’s Gussimae re-election.
•Simon is a young Bahamian with things on his mind who wishes to remain anonymous. His column 'Front Porch' is published every Tuesday in the Nassau Guardian. He can be reached at frontporchguardian@gmail.com.
Perry Christie’s evolution towards and final transformation into the Lynden Pindling of the more scandal-ridden days of the PLP was completed last week.In crushing the reform spirit within, labelled as traitorous, Mr. Christie demonstrated that in circling the wagons, the PLP is mostly a closed political organization, majority-ruled by appointed Stalwart Councillors, rather than elected branch representatives as is the case with most modern political parties founded on democratic principles.
This is in keeping with the party’s intolerance of dissent, which is the back story to the events of last week. That story has been unfolding for decades, featuring some of the central players in a drama that exploded with fury over the past few weeks, culminating in Mr. Christie’s Gussimae re-election.
How does a Leader who brought the party to defeat after a single term and whose chances of bringing it back to power are dicey, end up with such a large margin? We can only guess that what happens in Vegas -- stays in Vegas.
Horrified by the festering corruption within the Pindling administration in the 1980s, particularly with regard to illicit drug trafficking, and in an effort to clean up the PLP, then Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Hanna, whose daughter has now been dumped as the party’s first female Chairperson, resigned from the cabinet.
DISGUSTED
His departure was followed by other dissenters who, it is reported, were fired before they could tender their resignations. Both of the dissenters, Hubert Ingraham and Perry Christie went on to become Prime Minister, with two other prime ministerial aspirants, Fred Mitchell and B. J. Nottage also eventually exiting the PLP, disgusted with its corrupt practices and stagnant political culture.
Of course, Mr. Christie infamously swam through vomit to return to the PLP, with Mr. Mitchell then Dr. Nottage rejoining the party with an appreciation that independents and third parties may issue great statements, but have precious little power to transform those words into public policy and legislation.
Following Sir Lynden’s passing, with most Bahamians prepared to consider the Father of the Nation’s legacy more broadly and generously beyond his last decade plus in office, the PLP was afforded an extraordinary opportunity to renew a great political party, with its rich history and foundational and inspiring commitment to social justice, progressive politics and liberal ideals.
This is what Mr. Christie promised. It is what Messrs. Mitchell and Nottage expected as they returned to the Progressive Liberal Party. It is what propelled progressives such as Glenys Hanna Martin and Alfred Sears into frontline politics.
But before the PLP could pursue a progressive and liberal agenda, the party needed to reform itself. Mr. Christie, with a chameleon-like efficiency to be all things to all factions, promised reform to the reformers and the progressives while assuring the entrenched special interests of the party that he would protect the status quo and their financial and political assets.
While he got away with this shuffle as Leader of the Opposition prior to 2002, once in office he was exposed as a reformer mostly in talk and as more conservative than some of his decidedly more progressive cabinet colleagues and parliamentary group ever expected.
Still, the bait and switch game often proved effective. But, strip away the image of the common man or Poor Ole Kate whom the party purported to represent, and one often discovers the face of a PLP mandarin lining up for yet another let’s make a deal on an endless wheel of fortune, putting the public interest and the public purse in jeopardy.
BELLICOSE
Meanwhile, Mr. Christie, who repeatedly talks of second chances, and cooed lovely and soothing progressive rhetoric in his convention speech, suddenly turned into a hysterical and harsh right-wing proponent of the death penalty, possibly his most bellicose public statement yet on capital punishment.
“Speaking as Perry Gladstone Christie, let it be known to all and sundry that I am a firm believer in the death penalty. It may not be a deterrent to others but one thing I know: it will be a permanent deterrent to cruel and callous murderers in our land who should be made to hang for their crimes so they can’t do it again. That’s my position and I make no apologies for it.”
On the subject of executions, Mr. Christie did not simply crush the spirits of many of his party’s reformers, he humiliated them. He brought back as Chairman, a man more comfortable with political axe-wielding than nation-building.
Equally regressive and ungenerous, Mr. Christie prevented most of the party’s more progressive voices from speaking at the convention. With firm control of the party, will he and his new Enforcer-in-Chief be as successful in controlling these more progressive voices in parliament?
The dysfunction and dismissive attitude towards its own internal democratic practices is such that the enforcer, Bradley Roberts, was nominated, allegedly in contravention of party rules, by a former parliamentarian and cabinet minister, Neville Wisdom, who could not even be bothered to keep his party dues current. If a party cavalierly disregards its own internal rules, what other rules governing matters in the public domain is it prepared to ignore?
Mr. Christie is in a bind, because the reformist voices in the House of Assembly are eminently more thoughtful and articulate than the band of throwbacks and the uninspiring among his House colleagues who fervently support his maintenance of the status quo.
CLOWNISH
This reliance on the unexceptional came full circle in Picewell Forbes’ reckless and hopelessly clownish behaviour at the convention, more reminiscent of the antics of the village idiot than that of the court jester, the latter requiring a level of tact, talent and timing which the South Andros Member of Parliament sorely lacks and will never possess.
Still it was the junior Mr. Forbes who Mr. Christie chose to speak over the more senior party member and shadow cabinet minister, Bernard Nottage, a former cabinet minister, Deputy Leader and until last week Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Assembly.
Leader Christie also dissed Fred Mitchell, another senior party member and one of the more articulate commentators on foreign affairs. Of course, he could not silence “Mother” Pratt, who endorsed Phillip “Brave” Davis for her former post but, curiously, remained neutral in the race for Leader.
From his commanding heights Mr. Christie will probably offer the veneer and outward appearance of magnanimity to Dr. Nottage, playing the good cop in the interest of party unity. It is the doctor’s great fortune to have a relatively safe seat in Bain and Grants Town.
But Mr. Mitchell, with a marginal seat, will likely be punished by Chairman Roberts, the bad cop, doing the bidding of his Leader. The harsh party culture he once left, then returned to reform, will probably turn on him with a vengeance. Now the dream of becoming Prime Minister may be even more distant for Dr. Nottage and Mr. Mitchell than at the start of the convention.
The temporary beneficiary of the belief among most of the party with regard to the perceived disloyalty of Messrs. Nottage, Mitchell, Sears and others is the man who asked the party to be brave in electing him as number two.
Still, not only is “Brave” not Mr. Christie’s natural successor were he to eventually fall, by winning with only approximately 100 votes over the combined total of his opponents, Mr. Davis had better step gingerly if he does not also wish to be beheaded by the Prince’s enforcers, suffering the fate of the others whose reform wagon was crushed last week by the Perry Christie steamroller.
To take liberties with the immortal words of Lynden Pindling, now made Mr. Christie own: “If you can’t get aboard the Christie Express, get the hell out of the way.” All aboard?
As both the PLP and FNM national conventions are now in our rear view mirror, I believe it fair to say that the Prime Minister as leader of his party exhibited the same or greater dictatorial tendencies as his PLP counter-part. This is really sad as now it seems certain that, God willing, I will have to sit out the 2012 elections. I know that to refuse/fail to register and vote is anathama to most Bahamians but what is the point? In my view we are in for much of the same as both leaders offer no vision for the country. Pity! At some point "we" must take back the country or at minimum "demand" better representation.
Simon, it would be good to get your insightful take on the FNM convention as you did with the PLP.
Posted by: Phil Collins | November 09, 2009 at 04:53 PM