This Christie led Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government has been and continues to be the most deceptive governments that we have ever seen and even as each and every deception is uncovered, this government continues to contend that it is the most transparent and trustworthy government to date; a deception within itself.

“PM ‘deception’ over Baha Mar- Rollins claims govt. collusion with Chinese” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “Fort Charlotte MP Dr. Andre Rollins yesterday accused the Christie administration of colluding with China Construction America (CCA) Bahamas and ‘deceiving’ Bahamians over the stalled $3.5 bn Baha Mar resort project to protect the financial interest of the Chinese. 

‘This he said, ultimately ‘cut the legs’ from underneath project developer Sarkis Izmirlian.

However, Prime Minister Perry Christie vehemently denied this say that it was ‘absolutely wrong’ for Dr. Rollins to ‘mislead’ the country.  He said the record would reflect that there was no intention to delay the resort on the part of the government.”

Dr. Rollins now echoes the sentiments that a lot of have held from the very first day that this project began to ‘go South’ and that was that our government was “in bed” with the Chinese, in order to bring this project under the full control of ‘the bank’; the Chinese.  The Prime Ministers argument is why would him and his government do such a thing, bring this project to a standstill and put so many Bahamians in jeopardy?  This is a question that only this Prime Minister and his government can answer but this can be the only other reason that this project has some to a standstill and has been as such for over a year, other than through utter incompetence, ineptitude and laziness on the part of our government.

Why should anyone believe that this was not the case?

This government has had two referendums and both have been mired in confusion and deception and both have failed.

The Gaming Referendum saw this government introduce ‘non-constitutional’ referendums after it made the mistake of attempting to hold a referendum on a non-constitutional issue, calling it a ‘deepening of democracy and then in the most undemocratic way went against the voice of the people and overturned the results in that referendum.

Recently, in the Gender Equality Referendum, the government got caught up in more confusion and deception in one question, question #4, of that referendum, which in my opinion caused the entire referendum to fail.

How you tell the people that you want the law to reflect that you would not be able to discriminate against someone based on sex and when asked if this would allow same sex marriage to occur, tell the people no because the laws already state that marriage is define as being between a man and a woman but as the bill failed, there is now some question as to marriage actually being defined in any of our laws, who would seek to deceive in such a manner and why?

So the government is now being accused of colluding with the Chinese to oust Developer Izmirlian from the Baha Mar Project and he [the Prime Minister] ask why would he do such a thing?

Well Mr. Prime Minister why did you seek to deceive the country in the past?

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

END

After a second failed referendum during his administration, the Gaming referendum being the first, the question now stands, why won’t the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie do the honorable thing and step down as prime minister.   Even the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham told the people when he felt that he had failed them but yet today, according to Perry Christie he has never done anything wrong.  It is indeed disingenuous for the prime minister to even suggest that the results of the failed referendum was not an indictment on him and his administration and while we seek for him to do what is right as Fred Mitchell suggested that Hubert Ingraham should have done when the Gender Equality referendum failed in 2002, the deceit behind this referendum is slowing being revealed.

“Door open to same-sex marriage – Dame Anita Allen says judges may have to rule on issue” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “Court of Appeal President Dame Anita Allen said last night the judiciary is likely to face challenges in determining whether same-sex marriages are legal in the Bahamas, while pointing to the ‘difficulties’ inherent in the existing marriage laws that do not present any provision that parties to a marriage must be male and female.

Dame Anita said that, arguably, the laws of The Bahamas do not discriminate on the basis of sex and facilitate not only marriages of every description but also consummation of the same.

Given the various challenges relating to the existing law, Dame Anita last night insisted that both the Marriage Act and the Matrimonial Causes Act require ‘reconstructing’ to meet the needs of a changing society.”

It would seem that same-sex marriages are indeed possible and have already been possible since nothing has changed since the defeated Gender Equality referendum of last week, so if this is the case, who lied to who?

“Not on my watch – Christie says same=sex marriage will not happen while he is leader.” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt form this article; “Prime Minister Perry Christie said as long as he is the political leader of the Bahamas, it will not happen in his life time.

Christie branded as ‘legal nonsense’ the insistence by members of the ‘vote no’ campaign that the fourth question on the June 7 constitutional referendum would lead to same-sex marriage………

Last month, during the launch of the YES Bahamas campaign, Christie also sought to dispel ‘misconceptions’ related to bill four.

He said under the Matrimonial Clauses Act, marriage must be between a man and a woman, and the amendment would not change that.”

Now an argument is being put forth that there may be ‘difficulties inherent in the existing marriage laws’ that may actually be challengeable to allow for same-sex marriages; it would appear that the Prime Minister ahs ‘misinformed’ the nation about marriage being ‘protected’ under the Matrimonial Clauses Act, do you really believe that after all the consultation he was ‘unaware’?

It would appear that the Prime Minister has deceived the people after the failed gaming referendum, wherein he promised to abide by the ‘voice of the people’ and now again in order to achieve a ‘yes’ vote to question 4 in the recent Gender Equality referendum

Two referendums, two lies, two failures; it is indeed time for the Prime Minister to resign.

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

END

“PM: My name was not on the ballot – Govt. to reflect on ‘full meaning’ of failed referendum.” – The Nassau Guardian

Excerpt from this article; “Prime Minister Perry Christie expressed disappointment yesterday on the overwhelming rejection of the four gender equality referendum questions by the Bahamian people on Tuesday, and said he and his colleagues will have to exam the implication of the vote in the days to come.

Despite critics who have insisted the vote is in large part a reflection of dissatisfaction with the Christie administration, the prime minister said the Bahamian people rejected the four proposed changes to the constitution and not his administration.”

It amazes me the willful blindness that the Prime Minister expects of the people of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas; it will indeed be very interesting as he and his colleagues ‘examine the implications of the votes’ what they will come up with because he has already concluded that it is not an indictment on his administration but yet it is and either the Prime Minister has gone into denial or is simply attempting to deflect from the obvious implication of the referendum results, which in my opinion would be that the people have lost all confidence and trust in him and his administration.

It would seem that my Prime Minister lacks not only a sense of shame but also a sense of responsibility.  In a statement on February 28, 2002 concerning the Referendum Victory, as it was called, the then Leader of the Opposition , Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) laid out the important lessons learned from the defeated Gender Equality referendum that he voted ‘yes’ on in Parliament but then campaigned against.

Excerpt from this article; “Firstly, the results demonstrate that the Bahamian people are not ‘dumb and stupid’ as our nation leaders would have it believe.  Rather, the Bahamian people demonstrated yesterday that they can separate fact from fiction and that they can and will make up their minds intelligently and rationally based on what they honestly believe to be in their best interest and the best interest of our nation.

Secondly, the results demonstrate just how important and scared the Bahamian people regard their constitution.  It is their constitution; their contract with each other.  And the clear and unmistakable signal is that the Bahamian people telegraphed yesterday is that they don’t want any government messing with ‘their things’ unless they, the people, are fully included in the process of constitutional reform from start to finish – and that process of constitutional reform must never be rushed.

Thirdly, I believe that yesterday’s results demonstrate that Bahamians, both black and white, found common cause to beat back the Government’s referendum objective.  This should stand as a lesson to those who arrogantly presumed to speak on behalf of white Bahamians.  Their authority to do so was eloquently repudiated yesterday when White Bahamians joined with their black compatriots in defeating the government referendum.

There is a fourth lesson but it does not apply here.

Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, the people were able to separate fact from fiction and have shown that they are able to make up their own minds although you would have some believe that the failure of the recent referendum was partially due to one ‘leader’ not leading his ‘followers’ down the ‘right path’ but rather going ‘rouge’ by asking them to vote their conscience; it would seem that their conscience told them not to trust the present government.

Then when you have fully included the people in the process ‘from start to finish’ with a lot of them being confused and you decided it prudent to present one side of the ‘argument’ and yet still seek to call the ‘process’ fair and balanced; it would seem that the people did not believe this either.

Lastly, the government keeps referring to the 2002 referendum as the governments referendum as it seeks to distance itself from the referendum held on Tuesday of this week by claiming that their name was not on the ballot; okay point taken but yet to claim that it is not an indictment on your administration only shows your inability to accept the consequences and repercussions of your actions, as you again seek to ask the people to follow you blindly when they have already shown you TWICE that they are not willing to do this’ once with the Gaming ‘referendum’ and now with the Gender Equality referendum. 

So if Minister Fred Mitchell called for the former prime minister’s resignation after the failure of the 2002 referendum, why would you now choose to downplay calls for your resignation after TWO failed referendums?

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

END

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result” – Albert Einstein

I am sure that there is someone within the Progressive Liberal Party’s camp looking to justify the failure of this referendum, and they are most likely attempting to intimate that it was due to the ‘ignorance’ of the people causing them not to vote in their own best interest.

I was really hopeful and sure that bills #1 and #3 would have been received more favorably by the people; # 1,  giving the overseas born children of Bahamian fathers or mothers the right to citizenship provided that these parents did not obtain their citizenship through Articles 3(2), 8 or 10 of the constitution, deleting Article 9 and;

#3, allowing for Article 14 to give overseas born children of unmarried men the same right to citizenship that other enjoy, provided that paternity is proven but it was not to be.

As the agents of the PLP would seek to blame the ‘ignorance’ of the people for the failure of this very important referendum, who was it that was actually charged with the responsibility of educating the people so that an informed electorate went to the polls?

If the government feels that their education campaign was a success then the electorate was not ‘ignorant’, so what was the problem?

I am sure that agents of the Progressive Liberal Party will now go on to blame the church and the Free National Movement for this colossal failure, this is nothing short of asinine, as the only reasonable explanation is that the people cut of their noses in spite of their face due to the great frustration, distrust and lack of confidence that they have for this PLP government.

If this government used this as a ‘litmus test’ for the next general elections, I cry shame on them as I did when former Prime Minister , the Rt. Hon. Hubert Ingraham made the statement that whoever won the 2002 referendum would win the election, we all saw how that turned out and who really wins or loses?

As the Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party lays the ground work to smooth over the results of yesterdays referendum results with “The will of the the Bahamian people was expressed unfettered in the historic June 7 gender referendum as Bahamians respectfully and peacefully exercised their voting franchise.  I thank them for their solemn and reverential respect for the democratic process”, I question his statement of “His hands on approach cannot be understated as Mr. Christie met personally with the Christian Council and the church community who influenced the wording of the final constitutional amendments to ensure that The Bahamas adheres to its abiding Christian principles”, I sort of remember some statement by a certain PLP minister along the lines of some of these people need Jesus, be that as it is I wonder if this very same member of parliament is a man of his word and as he stated in 2002 ,“On the other hand we have nothing but scorn for this jackass that we call our Prime Minister.  He had to concede defeat just after 9.30 p.m. on the night of the referendum.  But the next day, he was back true to form.  He refused to resign making some spurious distinction by saying this was a vote not against the FNM and himself but against the issue raised in the referendum.  This is utter foolishness and is at variance with every known convention of the constitution.”  I wonder now what statement Prime Minister Perry Christie will make, as he has been very silent and will this minister now ask for him to do the honorable thing, as he requested of Hubert Ingraham, and step down.

This is truly a sad indictment on us as a people and a country, when we seem to feel that the best course of action is to go against our won best interest.  What is worst is when you feel so powerless that you feel that this course of action is your only course of action.  I do find solace in the fact that some persons that have expressed great distain for the present government voted in the best interest of the country.

The Progressive Liberal Party saw the results and ramifications of the 2002 referendum ad decided to follow the very same path by making it political.

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

END

There is a sense in the air that the upcoming gender equality referendum being put forth by the present Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government just may not succeed and it may not for several reasons but one of the main reasons is because there is still a lot of confusion surrounding some of the questions being asked and this confusion has been due to a lackluster educational campaign out forth by the government through their Yes initiative.  While many find it hypocritical that the government would fund a “Yes” campaign and not a “No” campaign also but not neither thereby leaving the choice up to the general populous, this has also led to a lot of the confusion and distrust that has the chances of the referendums success on ‘life support’, so the government has put forth an ‘exit strategy’ by hedging its chances by finding someone else to blame if case the referendum fails and boy have they gotten lucky, as they have found two persons to place the blame on; one being some religious leaders and the other being the Opposition through its leader, the Hon. Hubert Minnis and as luck would have it the church and the leader of the opposition are not heavily favored in the eyes of the public at this time.

“Yes campaign urges Minnis to find ‘courage” – The Nassau Guardian – May 3oth 2016

Excerpt from this article; “Should Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis ‘locate courage if his conviction’ and campaign with the ‘yes’ team he would see firsthand the inspiring and extraordinary work being done to ensure our sons and daughters are equal in the constitution and under our laws,’ Yes Bahamas said in a statement yesterday.”  I am amazed at the language used to twist the arm of the leader of the Opposition from his current position of advocating for a responsible approach to the referendum by the Bahamian public.  “Locate courage of his conviction”, really?  I thought his conviction was for persons to become educated and vote their conscience but of course this is why Prime Minister branded Dr. Minnis a ‘hypocrite’ for failing to push a yes vote, after the Official Opposition supported the bills in Parliament.  Why push a yes vote when the general populous are the ones that should be required to ‘show courage of conviction’, educate themselves on the bills and vote their conscience; why would asking this been viewed as ‘cowardly’ or hypocritical especially by a government who when in opposition in 2002 lacked the ‘the courage of conviction’ to support the bills once they had voted for them in Parliament, actually they went out and actively campaigned against equality for women at the time.

“Yes campaign urges Minnis to find ‘courage” – The Nassau Guardian – May 3oth 2016

Excerpt from this article; “Should Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis ‘locate courage if his conviction’ and campaign with the ‘yes’ team he would see firsthand the inspiring and extraordinary work being done to ensure our sons and daughters are equal in the constitution and under our laws,’ Yes Bahamas said in a statement yesterday.”  I am amazed at the language used to twist the arm of the leader of the Opposition from his current position of advocating for a responsible approach to the referendum by the Bahamian public.  “Locate courage of his conviction”, really?  I thought his conviction was for persons to become educated and vote their conscience but of course this is why Prime Minister branded Dr. Minnis a ‘hypocrite’ for failing to push a yes vote, after the Official Opposition supported the bills in Parliament.  Why push a yes vote when the general populous are the ones that should be required to ‘show courage of conviction’, educate themselves on the bills and vote their conscience; why would asking this been viewed as ‘cowardly’ or hypocritical especially by a government who when in opposition in 2002 lacked the ‘the courage of conviction’ to support the bills once they had voted for them in Parliament, actually they went out and actively campaigned against equality for women at the time.

Picking up on the narrative being set by the Progressive Liberal Party, that of Minnis being a weak leader because he failed by others standards to support Yes Bahamas, we have persons within his very own party, especially those of the faction that want him gone like ‘yesterday’ that continue to openly bash him without a logical argument or any sound reasoning on this matter, so here the Progressive Liberal Party has already began to set the background story that is this referendum fails it did so because of the direction that Dr. Minnis took on it, not bowing to the wishes of the government and its agents but then there is more.

“PLP Chairman Hits out at opponents to bill” – The Tribune 04.20.2016

Excerpt from this article; “PLP Chairman Bradley Roberts said the Save Our Bahamas group did not have any evidence to support its opposition of the fourth Constitutional Amendment Bill.

Mr. Roberts said the religious group did not have a good reason for opposing the bill, which seeks to end discrimination in the Constitution based on sex.  Questions based on the four bills will be put to the electorate in a referendum.

He urged Bahamians to pay attention to pay close attention to the facts so as not to get distracted by the ‘tremendous amount’ amount of misinformation that will be placed in the public domain.”

They only reasons why there will be a ‘tremendous amount of misinformation’ would be because either the government did not do a good enough job informing the people through the Yes Bahamas campaign that it funded or because the Bahamian people no longer trust the present Progressive Liberal Party or both and as for trusting them I would not blame them to trust this government

Yes Bahamians just may have good reason not to trust this present government that once voted campaigned against women equality, in 2002, citing as one of their reasons that the Church was not consulted, now the church has been consulted, the church has expressed their views and the church has been attacked for expressing their views, as a saying goes “Do not ask for my opinion and then get mad when I tell you the truth”.

“Mitchell: Deception by Vote ‘No’ side is a sin” – The Tribune 06.05.2016

Excerpt from this story “Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell yesterday spoke out against religious leaders opposing the four referendum bills, claiming that their ‘deceptive campaign’ against the gender equality vote is a ‘sin’.

He also insisted that some pastors are using ‘false stories’ to frighten Bahamians to vote against their ‘own interest.”

“A Sick, Sick Man”

“The Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his party the Free National Movement went down to resounding defeat on Wednesday 27 February 2002.  Their spin doctors and apologists are trying to make-up all sorts of stories about the whys and the whereof.  The simple fact is they were beaten and beaten convincingly.  This senator believes that his position from the start that he would vote no has been vindicated.  The lesson for the PLP is that the role of a political party is to shape public opinion, not the other way around.  We must congratulate the Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie and his team for the skillful manner in which this whole thing was handled.

On the other hand we have nothing but scorn for this jackass that we call our Prime Minister.  He had to concede defeat just after 9.30 p.m. on the night of the referendum.  But the next day, he was back true to form.  He refused to resign making some spurious distinction by saying this was a vote not against the FNM and himself but against the issue raised in the referendum.  This is utter foolishness and is at variance with every known convention of the constitution.”

Fredmitchelluncensored.com

As Minister Mitchell pointed out in this opinion piece after the 2002 Gender Equality referendum, he had intended to vote NO from the very beginning and really gives no real valid reason as to why either than the ‘scorn for this jackass we call a Prime Minister’.  Minister Mitchell admits to setting back gender equality by fourteen years due to the spite and contempt that he held in his heart for one man but yet seeks to now convince us that the “religious leaders opposing the four referendum bills claiming that their ‘deceptive campaign’ against the gender equality vote is a ‘sin’, minister Mitchell was it a ‘sin’ fourteen years ago?

What is this man on?

Indeed, the Progressive Liberal Party has already set the narrative for the upcoming referendum; if it succeeds they seek to set themselves up as Champions of the people, righting an age old wrong of our society, no matter the fact they contributed to it being a part of our society for fourteen years longer than it should have, and if it fails

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

END

These have been some very trying times for the Leader of the Opposition, Free National Movement (FNM) Dr. Hubert Minnis.  From being heavily criticized for proposing that citizens become more aware and think for themselves to being ‘attacked’ by those within in very own camp, one such ‘attack’ coming seemingly because of what hi9s [Dr. Minnis’] supporters have said about recent criticisms of him on social media.

“PM: Minnis is a hypocrite” – The Nassau Guardian 05.30.2016

Excerpt from this article; “Prime Minister Perry Christie has branded Dr. Hubert Minnis a hypocrite for failing to push a yes vote, after the official Opposition supported the four gender equality referendum bills is Parliament in March.

Minnis said Bahamians should educate themselves on the referendum bills and vote their conscience.

But Christie told National Review, ‘He’s a hypocrite in that sense, a deep hypocrite in that sense, because I indicated to him that we don’t have to do this, and I’d only do it if you were willing.

‘And the fact that he is so far removed from his colleague, the former deputy, Loretta Butler-Turner, that amazes me, but we have to deal with issue as we have it and his leadership will be judged on how he deals with matters of this kind.”

When our Prime Minister makes such statements I am simply baffled and amazed that so many people actually follow this line of rhetoric.

“And the fact that he is so far removed from his colleague….” Is a clever statement only interjected for the purpose of attempting to further foment a perceived mistrust between the leader of the Opposition and the Member of Parliament for Long Island.

The Leader of the Opposition has stated his position of the four bills, as he has noted that they are recorded on the record of the House of Assembly; while the Hon. Prime Minister seeks to brand another as a ‘hypocrite’ he needs to be reminded of 2002 when he and his party voted for the Gender equality bills in the House of Assembly and then went out and campaigned against them; how hypocritical, how shameful or should I say shameless?

Then we have “Rollins: Minnis has no vision – FNM leader ‘is using tactic of a demagogue’- The Tribune 05.31.2916

Excerpt from this article, “Infighting in the Free National Movement (FNM) took another dramatic turn yesterday as Fort Charlotte MP Dr. Andre Rollins lambasted supporters of Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis, accusing them of espousing a tactics of a demagogue interested in dumbing down the debate because the leader has no substance or vision for his country.

He insisted that those FNM members characterizing recent actions by him and several others of the party’s parliamentarians as a move by ‘elitist promoting a UPB agenda’ were only underscoring the ‘weakness’ of the current leadership.”  I find this an over simplification of the position that some FNM supporters have put forth and what I  have actually heard from some supporters of the governing Progressive Liberal Party but it is an over simplification nonetheless that begs for an explanation. How does what supporters of the leader of the Free National Movement equate to a showing of weak leadership unless you are purporting that the leader himself is giving the message and if he is then is he also giving to the PLP supporters that have relayed it to me?  I caution Dr. Rollins be very careful of whom you consort with, simple but through it all it is true Dr. Rollins, if Dr. Minnis is meant to be the leader then the trials and tribulations will bear it out, right?

END

“Judiciary should only interfere in Parliament when all else fails” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “A Judge was told of Friday that judicial interference in internal affairs of Parliament should only occur when all other avenues have been exhausted when an issue arises.

In a substantive hearing on a constitutional motion before Justice Indra Charles concerning her injunction relating to the recent disclosure and tabling of private Save The Bays (STB) emails in Parliament, Crown representative Dr. Lloyd Barnett stressed that Section 54 of the Constitution entrenched the powers and responsibilities of Parliament.

He said that the current action ‘would be a direct interference with proceedings and trespass on internal affairs.’

He said judicial interference could only occur in the rarest of instances when all other avenues have been exhausted which could not be said in of the matter presently before the court.”

The first and most obvious question, to me, here would be what other avenues was STB’s to take when their private correspondence was being tabled and read in Parliament, as we seemed to have reached a point wherein we still seek ‘someone’ to define what is the ‘worst of the worst’ as it pertains to capital punishment; who will now define when judicial interference becomes necessary in the ‘rarest of instances’ when all the avenues have been exhausted?  When we begin to get serious in this country in the protection of the basic rights afforded to our citizens by the very same Constitution that Crown representative says gives the governing party the right to deny citizens the right to privacy without recourse? 

In a variation of Bill#4, as proposed in the upcoming referendum on gender equality, a hand out from the “Yes” Campaign says “[The] Bottom Line”: Prevents Parliament from passing any new laws that discriminate against either men or women, so that our sons and daughters are considered equal under the law”, and here it is a Environmental group cannot seem to avoid Parliament from violating their constitutional right to privacy.

All this time the parties looking to reveal the private emails have yet to give an explanation as to how the material was obtained while the crown representative speaks to “Section 54 of the Constitution entrenched the powers and responsibilities of Parliament.” as if this government has every acted in a responsible manner.

Shame!

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

END

As Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie presented his Budget Communication for the year 2016 to the people of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, a budget communication short on achievements but long on promises, a budget communication that could have only been scotch taped together; with so many parts missing i.e. the audits from various ministries and the progress of the newly formed government agency ‘Resolve Bahamas’, we would have expected those with the requisite skill set to refute it with fact, but sadly this was not to come because it would seem that some of these persons had ‘different agendas’.

“Cash: it is time for new leadership” – The Tribune 05.26.2016

Excerpt from this article; “Former Free National Movement (FNM) Chairman Darron Cash yesterday blamed FNM leader Dr. Hubert Minnis for the ‘dismal state’ of the Official Opposition and said it is now time for the party to seek ‘fresh, new leadership.

In a statement, Mr. Cash said Dr. Minnis and his entire leadership team must give a full accounting of his stewardship of the FNM.  He also said a full convention with all the accountability factors built in is the right way for it to happen and called for it to be held in the next 90 days.

Mr. Cash also lamented that the FNM has become ‘a shadow of its former self’ and risks being ‘sink by an anchor of leadership that has been found wanting’.

‘There are many people who share responsibility for this unfortunate position, but there is no escaping the harsh reality – the current dismal state of the FNM goes to leadership.’

‘More specifically, it goes to the leader Hubert A Minnis,’ Cash said.”

First of all, I will not sit here and say that I have applauded each and every decision that Dr. Minnis has made as Leader of the Free National Movement, nor would I say that he has been a stellar success as the leader but I will say that I have seen an improvement since he has been elected leader of the party.   I feel for anyone to claim that either Perry Christie or Hubert Ingraham were exemplary leaders when the first became leaders of their respective parties would either be looking to mislead the public and is probably delusional themselves; as Hubert Ingraham was a work in progress and Perry Christie, in my opinion, will never achieve the necessary skill set to ever be called a leader; lying to the Bahamian public constantly does not make one a great leader but I have the propensity to digress.

There is fundamental difference between the Free National Movement and the Progressive Liberal Party, in the way that we handle our ‘leaders’.  As poorly as Perry Christie has performed over the years, his party members seek to prop him up and pick up the slack even to the point of threatening those that would dear criticize him; as for the Free National Movement, we have the tendency to choose a leader and tell them ‘do it’ and if he falls we back away lending little to no support only to look at them with distain and then seek to share our distain to any and everyone that would listen, this I find very disappointing.

Now we have a former Chairman saying that “It is time for new leadership” as he says that Minnis and his entire leadership team must account for the party’s failure but wasn’t he a part of this party’s leadership as we began our decline, as he and other would put it?

We as a party have become our own worst enemy. 

END

“Minnis ‘failing’ to lead on vote’ – Former FNM senator says leader has not communicated position” – The Tribune Excerpt from this article; “Former Senator Heather Hunt has suggested that Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis has not shown effective leadership because he has failed to communicate his position on the four constitutional […]

via My Morning Paper – May 25, 2016 – Disturbing Behavior — My Morning Paper

“Minnis ‘failing’ to lead on vote’ – Former FNM senator says leader has not communicated position” – The Tribune

Excerpt from this article; “Former Senator Heather Hunt has suggested that Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis has not shown effective leadership because he has failed to communicate his position on the four constitutional equality bills.

She told The Tribune yesterday that Democratic Alliance Leader Branville McCartney falls into the same category.

Mrs. Hunt is one of the co-executive directors of the YES Bahamas campaign and said that it was her hope that neither of these party leaders falls into a trap of using the equality bills as a political ‘football’

Instead, she said both Dr. Minnis and Mr. McCartney should use the opportunity to inform voters of what they plan to do differently should their party ascend to power.” 

Here Mrs. Hunt has me confused, while I do agree with her when she says that they “use the opportunity to inform voters of what they plan to do differently should their party ascend to power.”, this would come about only if they are in opposition to the bills and to this point I think only the Leader of the DNA has voiced opposition to the bills.

“Minnis: Vote your conscience – FNM leader urges voters to get educated” – The Nassau Guardian – 05.17.2016

Excerpt from this article; “Opposition Leader, Dr. Hubert Minnis is urging Bahamians to vote their conscience in the June 7^th referendum on gender equality.

‘With the entire referendum, I have said to the Bahamian public and I say again, listen to the issues, be educated, analyze, understand because you are voting for a future,” Minnis said.

‘Understand what you are voting on. You must be properly educated, then vote your conscience’ When asked how he intends to vote, Minnis said, ‘I said what I said.

 My vote in Parliament is on record’

Minnis voted in favor of all four bills in Parliament.” 

From this one can reasonably conclude that Dr. Minnis plans to vote ‘yes’ on the proposed bills but is not going to shove his opinion down the throat of the Bahamian people, much like the government is doing as it funds the ‘Yes Bahamas’ campaign. 

It is beyond me how this is perceived as weak leadership, to allow democracy work in the way that it should.

I gather from Ms. Hunts comments that she would have been more satisfied with Dr. Minnis telling 65,633 (give or take a few thousand) persons [the number of persons that voted for the Free National Movement in the 2012 General Election] to vote ‘yes’ and he should not encourage them to think for themselves.  I have been informed that this is the stance that the supporters of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) has taken, the ‘no’ position to the proposed bills; so now 13,225 person (give or take a few thousand) are expected to follow suit?  Is this true democracy?  If it is indeed, then Branville McCartney would have been pleased with each and every decision that the Free National Movement made when he was a part of this political organization, so surely this cannot be the official party position or what they expect from each and every one of their supporters as this stance is utter foolishness and only expected of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), who now seeks to chastise the leader of the FNM to vote ‘YES’ as they seem to see that the entire referendum is indeed in trouble and maybe this is why Mrs. Hunt now seeks to attempt to do the very same, as she also sees that the referendum may be ‘Dead on Arrival’.

It is indeed disturbing behavior when citizens of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas wish to have their leaders to think for them and actually encourage them to.  It is disturbing behavior when a group of people would expect for their leaders to ‘make up their minds’ for them especially during such an important democratic process such as this one.   Maybe the criticism of Dr. Minnis and Branville McCartney have come about as those of the ‘Yes Bahamas’ initiative have failed in their efforts to properly educate the people as a lot of confusion still exists.

END