Kendal “Jit” Culmer is pictured with Her Excellency Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor General of The Bahamas, after being presented with the British Empire Medal for “his contribution to business and politics.”
By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the toxic political environment that resulted in the establishment of the Free National Movement (FNM) in the early 1970s after eight House of Assembly members of the governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) took issue with the direction in which Premier Lynden Pindling was leading the country, the contributions made by a number of front-line soldiers in the struggle for majority rule were cosigned to the dustbin reserved for forgotten history.
The Dissident Eight, the moniker given to them at the time, included Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, Arthur A. Foulkes, Warren Levarity, Maurice Moore, James Shepherd, Dr. Curtis McMillan, Elwood Donaldson, and George Thompson, a former United Bahamian Party (UBP) stalwart in Eleuthera, who joined the PLP several years prior to the 1967 general election.
Their split with the PLP – coming only four years after the historic January 10, 1967, general election, which brought the first black-majority government to power in The Bahamas – triggered a political crisis that resulted in an army of long-time PLP members who shared the views espoused by the Dissident Eight decided to also leave the PLP.
There is no question that among the Dissident Eight, the individual who had the largest number of loyal followers was Cecil Wallace- Whitfield, a charismatic lawyer whose leadership ability many political observers are convinced is one of the major reasons for the PLP’s landmark 1967 general election victory.
As chairman of the PLP, Wallace-Whitfield was in charge of the party’s overall election campaign, which he orchestrated from the party’s main campaign headquarters at the Reinhard Hotel on Baillou Hill Road. He supervised the campaign like an army general, doling out significant areas of responsibility to key supporters with proven campaigning ability.
These trusted individuals included the late Charles “Chuck” Virgill, the late Edwin “Wikie” Brown, Kenneth “Chess” Wood, Andrew “Dud” Maynard, Howard Miller, Oswald Pyfrom, and Kendal “Jit” Culmer, whose commitment as a “soldier in the trenches” during the struggle for majority rule came to mind when I saw the photo of him receiving the British Empire Medal from Her Excellency Dame Marguerite Pindling, Governor General of The Bahamas, for “his contribution to business and politics.”
He was among “three distinguished Bahamian citizens” honoured in a Queen’s Honours Investiture during a brief ceremony held at Government House on Wednesday, August 15, 2018. The other two honorees were distinguished educator Mrs. Elma Garraway, for her service to education and the community, and Dr. Jonathan Rodgers, MBE, for his services in the field of ophthalmology.
According to a report on the event, Anita Beneby, Secretary to the Governor General, described them as individuals who have given “full expression” to the aspirations of the nation as contained in the national pledge, the motto, and the preamble of the Constitution.
That same report noted that Dr. Rodgers was sponsored by J. Barrie Farrington, former hotelier, and Mrs. Garraway was sponsored by Anita Bernard, former Secretary to the Cabinet, and Ruth Millar, former Financial Secretary.
Referring to the award to Mr. Culmer, the report said, “His award did not require a sponsor.”
Surely, if the award to “Jit” Culmer did require a sponsor, if he were alive today, Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield would have been on top of the list of potential sponsors.
I have first-hand knowledge of Mr. Culmer’s steller contributions to the struggle for majority rule and the work ethic he has exhibited from his years a young man involved in taxi business to achieve the success he now enjoys. Congratulations to my very dear friend.
