Perry Christie in Wonderland

by Simon

•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 [email protected]

The deep-seated resistance to reform within the PLP notwithstanding, a clue as to when the party is in the throes of a fresh crisis is the resurfacing of Party Leader Perry Christie to assure one and all that there is no crisis. 

It’s akin to the General Manager of BEC reading a statement by candlelight that the electricity company’s blackouts are a thing of the past.  What blackout? What crisis?  Don’t believe what you see or don’t see, believe what I tell you. 

In the long build-up to the party’s national convention this past October, Mr. Christie was generally out of sight, re-emerging to aggressively fend off the pretenders to his throne as well as urgent calls for reform within the PLP.  Crisis averted, Mr. Christie mostly disappeared again.

Now with the stinging loss of a second PLP member of the House of Assembly in the person of Mr. Malcolm Adderley, the Leader of the Opposition has reappeared to respond with shock and awe to this latest departure.

Curiously, Mr. Christie appears to be responding more aggressively to this political embarrassment than he has to the economy and crime, having ceded the lead voice of the Opposition to his new chairman who is not a member of the PLP’s parliamentary group nor especially known for his policy acumen or facility with language.  

Yet Bradley Roberts seems to be Mr. Christie’s avatar, channelling the Leader’s thoughts on all manner of things political and policy-wise.  The über Chairman is now the main face of the party and chief spokesman, acting as the de facto Leader of the Opposition, appearing in various media more frequently than any other party official including Mr. Christie.  

COMEDIC

Meanwhile, the Malcolm Adderley saga within the PLP was like a comedic opera with twists of irony and farcical turns, plots and subplots, phantom figures and outsized egos, stilted soliloquies and rehearsed chorus lines.
 
Many of those who protested now Sir Michael Barnett’s leaving the political arena to join the Supreme Court have suspended this line of reasoning in the case of Mr. Adderley.  Further, after the Member for Elizabeth’s resignation from the PLP, the party issued an Alice in Wonderland statement ironically entitled Enough is Enough, insisting that “the party was not taken by surprised (sic)”.

When did enough become enough for Mr. Christie: When Mr. Adderley chose to remain as Chairman of the Gaming Board?  When he went basically absent without leave from the PLP, reportedly not attending his party’s parliamentary caucus?  Was his empty chair at such meetings not a sign?  Or, was it finally when he refused to respond to various all-point bulletins, delegations and entreaties?

Whatever the case, as this political opera played out, Mr. Christie cemented his image as a “late-again” leader, and in true Wonderland fashion flipped the better late than never maxim to simply never when it came to dealing with Mr. Adderley’s dismissive attitude towards his leadership culminating in a one-man vote of no confidence on the floor of the House.

In resigning, Mr. Adderley also used the words enough is enough, schooling Mr. Christie in political theatre and reality, demonstrating to him that words must be matched by actions if they are to be believed.  Simply mouthing certain catchphrases doesn’t work in Wonderland or in real life.  Apparently, it really is important to be able to distinguish between reality and delusion.

In his response to the Adderley departure Mr. Christie put on his classic vaudevillian cum Wonderland act attempting to yet again suggest that his delay, indecision and procrastination are actually virtues and not costly vices that have become his political Achilles heel.

The Leader of the Opposition lamely and unconvincingly cited his forbearance and patience with Mr. Adderley.  Rule of thumb in politics: When you and your opponent are both standing on a potential trap door and each of you control the switch for the other’s trap door, pull the switch first or be prepared to fall as flat as Mr. Christie’s overly dramatic response to Mr. Adderley’s departure. 

PRETENDING

With just about everyone in the country aware of the probable next step for Mr. Adderley, Mr. Christie comically forecast the proverbial penny dropping and the supposed drama to come.  Of course this fits perfectly with the PLP Leader’s handling of the Adderley saga.  Though almost everyone knew that the Elizabeth MP was about to resign, Mr. Christie kept pretending that things were not what they seemed.

In the Wonderland that is often Mr. Christie’s world he seems to have adopted as his line of reasoning and motto the inimitable words of Humpty Dumpty from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, the companion to Alice in Wonderland: “When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” 

While this may work in children’s fairy tales it does not work in the real world of adult politics. 

Moreover, notwithstanding his overwhelming re-election as PLP Leader, the entire Malcolm Adderley affair demonstrates once again that while Mr. Christie may control the party’s rank and file, a critical mass of his parliamentary colleagues, in and out of government, have little faith in his leadership.  This is unlikely to change and will make any future government under Mr. Christie’s control unstable and chaotic. 

The same Perry Christie who could or would not enforce enough is enough as Prime Minister with his wayward cabinet ministers once again failed, as Leader of the Opposition, to so do with one of his MPs. 

Mr. Christie is like a global warming denier who urges that more reflection and study is needed while sinking under a tide of rising sea level-like crises.  To those stalwart councillors also in denial, the climate of Bahamian politics continues to change, requiring seasoned captains who are adept at tacking with the times.

OPPORTUNITIES

Change and reform properly understood are not slogans or inherently threatening   tsunamis. Rather they present opportunities for successful leaders who want to harness the wind and waves of the future, which makes the claim that Mr. Christie may be “fast asleep at the wheel”, a lethal charge.

It is a flammable charge made by someone on Mr. Christie’s ship, someone who realizes that without a change of direction that the Captain Ahab in charge of the s.s. PLP, tragically steering by the singular political chart of yesteryear, will continue to lead his fellow crew members into stormy weather. 

Like Mr. Adderley, many of the crew on that ship must answer the question as to whether their continued journey with the Old PLP is tenable in terms of their own political careers, peace of mind and vision for the future. 

With his concentrated and unyielding attacks on Mr. Christie’s leadership this is a question that former PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby will have to answer fairly soon if he is to maintain his credibility with the wider public.  It is also a question for Mr. Phillip Galanis, who in previous statements has also shown little faith in Mr. Christie. 

And it is a question for another former Chairperson, Mrs. Glennys Hanna-Martin, who, like Mr. Adderley, was undermined from within despite assurances by some that they had her back and would call in for a little talk those who were undermining her. 

All three of these progressives, potentially the new face of the PLP, must be deeply frustrated by a retrograde old guard incapable of change.  Of course they do have choices.  They can continue to align themselves with the Old PLP, hoping for change somewhere over the rainbow, somewhere far, far away.  Or, they can leave the PLP like other reformers and progressives have done since the days of the once Free PLP.

Comments

[Ithopia Mckinney]

Hello Simon, I absolutely love how you write all of your commentaries. You are a great author!