A war of words has erupted between former Progressive Liberal Party MP, George Smith and current PLP MP and Speaker of the House, Dr. Kendal Major.  This disagreements originated in the wake of the ‘We March Bahamas’ protest, a week ago, with Dr. Major, MP for the Garden Hills constituency suggesting that the Progressive Liberal Party brand is ‘damaged’, with George Smith insisting that this is not the case; the ‘Old Guard’ versus the ‘Bridge to the future’.

The question now arises, what exactly is the Progressive Liberal Party’s brand?

“Smith :PLP brand intact” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Cabinet Minister George Smith said yesterday although the PLP has faced ‘great challenges’ and made several mistakes over the past four years, the party has managed to keep its brand intact.

‘[The party] has faced some great challenges as an organization and it survives’, Smith said.

‘…….The last four years has been a very challenging period.”

Indeed, Mr. Smith, it has also been for the Bahamian people but before I go off script, my main focus is what exactly is the Progressive Liberal Party’s brand?

“In November 1943, the people of The Bahama Islands having for centuries endured the injustices of slavery and second class status in their own homeland, acclaimed and embraced the formation of the PROGRESSIVE LIBERAL PARTY, as a political organization established by the founding fathers to seek and secure the improvement of the lives of the poor, the downtrodden and the dispossessed and to bring hope and promise to the young people.” – First paragraph of the “Preamble” of The Constitution of the Progressive Liberal Party.

There is a ‘bill of goods’ that the Progressive Liberal Party sells to it members and persons wishing to bring about change from the front line of politics under their banner and this is that the Progressive Liberal Party is here to ‘free’ you from your oppressors and make you a first class citizen in your country, this appears to be their brand; to date we still await this to be fulfilled by this party.

Oddly enough, some person, especially younger people still buy into this rhetoric, as they claim to be able to see their own ideals and principle aligning with those of the Progressive Liberal Party; this is a fallacy and illusion, nothing but smoke and mirrors and is the basis on which the Progressive Liberal Party’s brand is built.

First, Mr. George Smith, the ‘great challenges’ that the Progressive Liberal Party now face are, in my opinion, of their very own making, sort of like Lady Macbeth being haunted by the blood spots of her murdered husband and also to say that the party has made ‘several mistakes over the past four years’ must be the greatest understatement of the year.

The Progressive Liberal Party’s Constitution Article 2. Objectives can all be considered a lie when you look at the performance of the Progressive Liberal Party over the past four plus years.   In this article it speaks about “…the economic independence of The Bahamas and empowerment of the people of the Bahamas  and seeking to maintain and promote a political, economic and social order which provides equal rights and opportunities for ALL citizens of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas within the framework of the party’s philosophy and Constitution, while we have only seen an increasing economic dependence on the government, which has actually been brought on and encouraged by this PLP government with very little in the way of having Bahamians become owners in their own country, as promised in the Preamble of The Progressive Liberal Party’s Constitution.

So maybe, Dr. Major is speaking from a more youthful perspective of what he once expected and what the march/protest highlighted was never delivered on, while George Smith still hangs on to the past, ever so resistant to change that is inevitable.

The Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is their nature.

END