Posted by Briland Modem News Team on July 30, 2001 at 11:48:01:
PLP Senator Fred Mitchell's online column can be viewed in its entirety at www.fredmitchelluncensored.com.'
By Fred Mitchell
NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER
'67, '77, '87
There was a fascinating political discussion amongst a group of would be voters in the next general election. They were trying to figure out what period in our history are we about to repeat when it comes to the next general election. In the election of 2002, will we face another 1967, another 1977 or another 1987? We'll go down what it means below.
In 1967, the PLP had four Members of Parliament. The party had been split badly when some of its most prominent members Paul Adderley, Spurgeon Bethel and Orville Turnquest had a disagreement with the party over whether or not to boycott the proceedings of the House of Assembly. The National Democratic Party was formed and there was a divided opposition that faced the juggernaut of the UBP in 1967. The result: the PLP 18, the UBP 18 and there was one for Labour and one Independent. The PLP won the Government and stayed in power for 25 years.
In 1977, the Free National Movement was the main opposition party. But just before the General Election, the main body of the Free National Movement, led by Cecil Wallace Whitfield broke away and went on its own. The Bahamian Democratic Party was formed. That was really the rump of the dissolved United Bahamian Party that ran the country up to 1967. Henry Bostwick headed that party. The FNM and BDP, divided, faced the PLP in the 1977 election. The result: a landslide victory for the PLP at the polls. Conventional wisdom from that election is that a divided opposition cannot win against a united governing party. This PLP victory came despite the fact that there was an ideological rift in the PLP when Carlton Francis, Arlington Butler, Edmund Moxey, Lionel Davis, Cadwell Armbrister, Oscar Johnson and Franklin Wilson all lost their nominations in what in PLP history has become known as the night of the long knives.
Then there was 1987. The Commission of Inquiry of 1984 had reported. As the elections neared, the country was full of allegations against the Government of drug corruption. People said the US. was against the PLP. People expected the FNM to win but they weren't quite sure that the FNM was ready for the victory. They had not convinced the people that they could govern. The result: the PLP won the election.
And so what are we facing in 2002? Will the Government change or will the PLP remain the Opposition although substantially strengthened? Our bet is 1967. What is your bet?
This week we had 23,521 hits on this site up to midnight on Saturday 27 July. That makes a total of 85,947 hits on this site for the month of July. Please keep reading and thanks for reading.
TWEEDLE DUM AND TWEEDLE DEE: THE VENTRILOQUIST & HIS DUMMIES
It is official. The candidates are all in. Nominations for the leader designate and deputy leader designate of the Free National Movement were entered on Thursday 26 July. The candidates are as expected: Tennyson Wells, Algernon Allen and Tommy Turnquest for Leader. For the post of Deputy Leader: Dion Foulkes and Lester Turnquest. The election will take place at a special convention on Friday 16 August. Until then we shall have to put up with an endless palaver and debate about who is most likely to be the successor to lame duck Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. As you know, our view is that the candidates who will win are Tommy Turnquest and Dion Foulkes. They are the candidates of the UBP wing of the party. The folks from the Eastern Road and the folks from Lyford Cay, all support the Foulkes / Turnquest combination. They call themselves the dream team, although it's probably more like a nightmare. Some are saying they are really dumb and dumber or tweedle dum and tweedle dee. Whatever they are, it is clear that this is a case of the ventriloquist and his dummies. The lame duck Prime Minister intends to lead the party into the general election. So the people of The Bahamas will be voting for Hubert Ingraham not Tommy Turnquest. And then to add insult to injury Mr. Ingraham intends to sit on the back bench and control the two from the back. This makes for an interesting and undemocratic result. What should happen is that Mr. Ingraham should step down immediately after the election on 16 August.
THE RESULTS OF FNM LEADER TRIBUNE POLL
Added pressure is being put on the Turnquest/Foulkes/ Ingraham/Bay Street Boys cabal by a poll in The Tribune Saturday 28 June. The poll shows that Mr. Allen is by far and away the most popular of all the would be leaders of the FNM. The Prime Minister is doing all in his power to stop Mr. Allen. (See our story in News From Grand Bahama) The Tribune conducted two polls. The first was a newspaper poll with respondents sending in ballots. In that poll Mr. Allen won with 51 per cent of the respondents. Second was Tennyson Wells with seventeen per cent. Tommy Turnquest got thirteen per cent. Dion Foulkes got six per cent. The others recorded no vote. In the more scientific poll done by The Tribune's sister operation 100 JAMZ, the telephone poll of 1000 respondents showed Algernon Allen with thirty five per cent, Tommy Turnquest with twenty eight per cent; Tennyson Wells with eighteen per cent; Tennyson Wells with six per cent; C.A. Smith with five per cent; Dion Foulkes with four per cent; Carl Bethel with four per cent; no vote six per cent. This should give Hubert Ingraham and the UBP crew pause. We still think that the 397 delegates are the ones that really will count in this equation and we think that at the end of the day Mr. Ingraham and the UBP crew will muscle them all in shape for Tommy. But word is that in David Thompson's delegation from Freeport, the entire delegation of women will be voting for Mr. Allen even though Mr. Thompson thinks that he has them safely pledged for Tommy. That's what Mr. Ingraham has to watch: people who pledge to him but secretly vote the other way.
TOMMY'S ROYAL WAVE
Hubert Ingraham has been trying to introduce Tommy Turnquest to what normal life is like. You know a Friday night crowd down at the fish fry with the boys. He has taken Tommy there a couple of times to get him used to it. Last Friday, Hubert was not available so Tommy tried on his own. But when his car reportedly pulled up, the official limo and driver, he took one look at the crowd and saw that Daddy Hubert wasn't there, he instructed the driver to toot the horn and did a royal wave to the fellows. Just couldn't face the crowd on his own.
NORMAN SOLOMON'S KISS OF DEATH
They say that when Norman Solomon supports you for something politically, be careful. During the past week Mr. Solomon went on the radio to say that he was supporting Tommy Turnquest for Leader of the FNM. The kiss of death, say Tommy's FNM opponents. They say it reinforces in the minds of the public who the UBP faction in the country supports.
MINISTERS SHOULD TAKE LEAVE
Dion Foulkes, Tommy Turnquest and Algernon Allen are all Ministers of the Government. They get paid to work full time for the Bahamian people, not to campaign to be leader of their party. While they are doing so, they are not doing any work. All they are doing is collecting a salary from the public treasury and use that to campaign for the position of leader of their party. During the period that they are campaigning, they ought to step down and take a leave of absence without pay. They are not putting their full attention to the matters of their portfolio. They cannot. They must step down.
TOMMY, DION, HUBERT - SAME GENERATION
Hubert Ingraham is 55 years old. Tommy Turnquest is 41 years old. Dion Foulkes is 45 years old. So what is this business from Tommy? Here's what The Tribune quotes him as saying on Friday 27 July: "Now that Mr. Ingraham and Mr. Watson (Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson) have indicated their intention to step down as Leader and Deputy Leader of our party, we feel that now is the time to pass the mantle of leadership on to the next generation, our generation." For Mr. Turnquest's information a generation is 30 years. Mr. Ingraham is not even close to 30 years older than Mr. Turnquest is. Frank Watson can be said to be almost from a different generation. But certainly not Hubert Ingraham. The fact that Mr. Ingraham has treated himself physically badly, overweight and smokes too much so that he looks like an old man, is leaving because he is tired of office, has nothing to do with a different generation. Mr. Turnquest is going to continue Mr. Ingraham's policies and simply do what Mr. Ingraham says from the backbench. So there is no generation change in fact as in age and certainly none in philosophy. Mr. Ingraham and Mr. Turnquest are all the same.
LESTER TURNQUEST
We wish Malcolm Creek MP Lester Turnquest all the best in his epic struggle against the hostility at official levels in his own party. Mr. Turnquest is seen as a maverick who speaks out on issues of the heart for and on behalf of his people. The Prime Minister has been actively trying to crush his spirit. The talk around town is that the secret support for Mr. Turnquest is growing. Every day the calls are coming in saying that he should not worry, even though they are pledged to Messrs. Turnquest, Ingraham and Foulkes, they will vote Lester Turnquest. FNMs are betting on a big surprise.
THE SPEAKER MUST RESIGN
R. Italia Johnson, who did not have the courage of her convictions, to stay in the race for leader of the FNM once it was pointed out to her that she would lose her $60,000 per year salary, just did not get the point of why she has to step down from the post. We tried to point out to her that she needs to resign as Speaker. Once she announced that she was joining the race for Leader of the FNM, she was bound to step down. Pulling out of the race is not enough. The damage of lack of impartiality was already done. But after writing that stupid letter (see last week's column) in which she said that she recognizes the need to be seen to be impartial, she then proceeded to attend the nomination of candidates at the FNM headquarters on Thursday 26 July and proceeded to second the nomination of Algernon Allen. Some Jackasses Of The Week just don't learn.
SOME SURPRISE SUPPORT
They say that in the Council Meeting on Thursday 26 July when nominations were entered for the posts of Leader designate and Deputy Leader Designate, mouths dropped open when Italia Johnson got up to second Algernon Allen's nomination for Leader. People thought she was getting up to leave or go to the bathroom but no, she is supporting Algernon. Dion Foulkes was said to have rolled his eyes in surprise and them shrugged his shoulders.
NEW PRESIDENT FOR COURT OF APPEAL
The newspaper of Saturday 28 July showed a picture of Burton Hall, being sworn in as the Acting President of the Court of Appeal, replacing Edward Zacca, the former Jamaican Chief Justice who has retired after serving for a year and a half as The Bahamas President of the Court of Appeal. The question is whether the Prime Minister consulted the Leader of the Opposition on the appointment, as he is required to do in law. The PM reportedly takes the position that he does not need to consult the Leader of the Opposition when it comes to acting appointments. That is nonsense and it violates the spirit and the letter of the constitution. The real dope is that Mr. Hall is to leave the Court of Appeal and become the Chief Justice. Dame Joan sawyer who is now the Chief Justice is to become the President of the Court of Appeal. Outgoing President Zacca said in his final address to the Court on Wednesday 25 July that when the new arrangements are in place for the first time a Bahamian will be head of the Judiciary (Chief Justice) and head of the Court of Appeal. We all laughed because he forgot that one of his predecessors Sir Joaquim Gonsalves-Sabola, now under the gun because he accepted citizenship from the Government of The Bahamas, during a trial involving the Government, was - as is said in this country - a 'paper Bahamian'.
NURSES THREATENING TO STRIKE
After all the abuse the nurses have taken from the Government and the threat of a strike, you would think that the Government would be contrite. Not so. The nurses now say that their expected pay raise of 14 per cent did not materialize at the bank on Friday 27 July. They only got a five per cent raise. They are threatening to strike again.
WHAT WILL WELLS AND ALLEN DO?
The scene was like a huge junkanoo festival outside the FNM headquarters on Mackey Street (See Guardian photo). Scores turned out to support Algernon Allen's candidacy. And out in the country it appears that he is the most popular of all the candidates. The fact is though we out in the country do not vote and so a beauty contest out in the country, signs out in the country don't count. The only thing that counts is what those 397 eligible delegates will do when the voting takes place on 16 August. The Prime Minister is busy working the telephones, using the public treasury and the 10 million-dollar war chest of the Foulkes/ Turnquest combination to swamp the delegates with money and promises of more to come. If ever there was going to be the massive buyout of a leadership position, the Turnquest clan intends that Tommy will buy this one. He only needs to buy 200 people, and he's got the leadership. One story goes that the Family Island delegates friendly to Tommy and Dion were being flown in and put up at Sun International's swank Atlantis property. Can Mr. Wells and Mr. Allen top that? We know that Mr. Allen and Mr. Wells have money but if the war chest is indeed 10 million dollars, there is no way they can top that. All of this is quite obscene. But the question is what will the pair of them (Allen and Wells) do when they lose the election? Mr. Wells especially will have to consider whether he continues to have a future in the FNM. It will be miserable indeed. Mr. Allen fired a shot across the bow in an interview published in The Tribune on Monday 23 July. In it, he recalled what was alleged at the PLP's convention in 1998. He said that the bitterness of that campaign caused Bernard Nottage to leave the PLP. He said if that is the kind of campaign that the FNM wages then the wounds would not heal in time for the FNM to face the General Election. But for now Mr. Allen relished the junkanoo crowd.
ELECTIONS AT TENNYSON WELLS' BRANCH
The media in this country can be so bloody gullible. Here is the truth, as we know it. At Tennyson Wells branch elections on Wednesday 25 July in Bamboo Town, scores turned up for the branch elections. It appears that certain agents provocateur were called by the lame duck Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham himself to come to Mr. Wells' branch meeting so that they could sow the seeds of discord. The result was that although Mr. Wells retained control over his branch, it gave the impression with all close races that Mr. Wells was indeed in trouble throughout his constituency. All over the island you heard it in the political community that if Mr. Wells could not even control his branch, how could he control the country? No one stopped to think that there was a conspiracy afoot to destabilize Mr. Wells. The only outstanding issue was that there was tie vote for the council member, one Wellington Smith. If you follow these things, you will remember that this is the council member of Mr. Wells' branch that defied Mr. Wells' wishes and moved the resolution at the council level to give Mr. Ingraham his desire as regards a third term. Bamboo Town FNMs were furious at what they considered a political double cross. At the elections on Wednesday, Mr. Wells was accused of deliberately spoiling a ballot so that a tie resulted in the vote on Wednesday. No, I did not do so, said Mr. Wells. It was agreed that there would be a re-run of the election on Friday 27 July. But it was not to be. In stepped the lame duck Prime Minister who told the country that he had asked Mr. Smith to withdraw from the race in the interest of the peace and the party. Surprise! Surprise! Mr. Smith did. This tends to confirm that indeed it was Mr. Ingraham who was the source of the discord in Mr. Wells' branch.