COMMENTARY: By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 25, 2021 – Watching the video on Wednesday of Minister of Health Renward Wells announcing that a COVID-19 vaccine would soon be available in The Bahamas, I cringed with embarrassment for him when he said that the official announcement would be made by Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, who is the “testicular head” of the government.
As a veteran journalist who has always been an avid reader, I consider myself to be a wordsmith and I was certain that Wells was using the word “testicular” incorrectly, but I nonetheless searched the Internet to see is there was an alternate definition for it. Here’s what I found:
“Testicular [te-stik-yuh-ler] adjective; of or relating to the testes. The testicles, also called the testes, produce about 1,500 sperm every second…”
Assuming that Mr. Wells does indeed know that “balls” is the crude meaning of the word “testes” – the male reproductive gland from which the word “testicles” is derived — I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and concluded that he misspoke. However, I could not help but wonder whether Prime Minister Minnis now regrets having accepted the resignation of Dr. Duane Sands last May during the height of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in The Bahamas because of what Dr. Sands referred to in his resignation letter as “the unfortunate controversy surrounding the delivery of COIVD-19 test swabs and the landing of permanent residents under what you have termed a breach of protocol regulating the entry to The Bahamas by Bahamian citizens and permanent residents under Emergency (COVID-19) regulations.”
Obviously, in accepting “responsibility for this breach of protocol” and acknowledging that he “acted outside the scope of my authority in this matter,” Dr. Sands, who was unquestionably an exceptionally good and effective Minister of Health, was leaving the “door open” for the Prime Minister to be benevolent and make the right decision by refusing his resignation.
Prime Minister Minnis, however, accepted Dr. Sands’ resignation and subsequently appointed Mr. Wells, MP for Bamboo Town, as Minister of Health, describing him as a “go-getter” in suggesting that Mr. Wells would a good job as Minister of Health.
Of course, throughout his political career, Mr. Wells has been exceptionally good at “making all the right moves” while swimming in turbulent political waters. I could not help but wonder what Dr. Andre Rollins, who not long ago was one of the most promising young politicians in The Bahamas, must now be thinking while observing from the political sidelines the success his former “political partner” is now having as a top minister in the FNM government.
Dr. Rollins, who was MP for Fort Charlotte, was the “leader” of the Rollins-Wells revolt that led to both of them resigning from the PLP in November of 2015 and subsequently joining the FNM. He was clearly more politically astute than Mr. Wells, but his love affair with creating headlines and his penchant for being center stage as the “spokesman” for the two “renegade politicians” eventually resulted in him derailing what at one time was a very promising future in politics.
Meanwhile, Mr. Wells shrewdly mapped out a plan to remain politically relevant after they joined the then opposition FNM and were rewarded with top party parliamentary positions, with Rollins being named shadow minister of national security and Wells shadow minister of tourism.
Dr. Rollins was a member of the opposition FNM for less than year before he apparently set his sights on becoming leader of the FNM by publicly coitizing Dr. Minnis’ leadership.
According to an article in The Bahama Journal on May 31, 2016, “Member of Parliament for Fort Charlotte Dr. Andre Rollins is defending his position as it relates to the ongoing rift within the Free National Movement (FNM). Dr. Rollins’ comments were made this past weekend on one of social media platforms.”
The Journal quote Dr. Rollins as saying: “If Dr. Hubert Minnis has what it takes to be prime minister, then he will weather this storm and prove himself the most fit to lead. I want to have a say in who I want to be prime minister – understanding the immense power reposed in that office – and influence the direction of our nation, then I will do just that. It won’t be the PLP pushing Perry Christie on Bahamians and it won’t be the FNM denying Bahamians their right to have a say in the political process.”
Subsequently, seven of the 10 opposition FNM members in the House, including Dr. Rollins, submitted a letter of “no confidence” in Dr Minnis to House Speaker Dr Kendal Major and to the Governor General, Dame Marguerite Pindling, on Wednesday, December 7, 2016, revealing they had voted to be led in Parliament by Mrs. Loretta Butler-Turner, the then MP for Montagu. The others signing the “no confidence” letter were Central and South Abaco MP Edison Key, North Eleuthera MP Theo Neilly, Mrs. Butler-Turner, St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman, Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn and Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant.
The then FNM Deputy Leader in the House Peter Turnquest, MP for East Grand Bahama, and Mr. Wells remained loyal to Dr. Minnis, who continued as Leader of the FNM, although he was no longer Leader of the Opposition in the House. Consequently, all of the “rebel FNM MPs,” as members of the party labelled them, were denied nominations to run in the May 10, 2017 general election, which was won by the FNM by a landslide.
However, Dr. Rollins attempted to reverse his decision to oppose Dr. Minnis after he apparently fell out with Mrs. Butler-Turner, the official Opposition Leader in the House.
According to an article in The Tribune on February 16, 2017, Dr. Rollins said he was prepared to swim in his “own vomit” in order “to get back with” FNM “to ensure that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) does not win the upcoming general election.”
“While making his contribution in the House of Assembly last night (February 15), Dr Rollins said despite all that has happened, he is an FNM and his main objective is to make sure the party, led by Dr Hubert Minnis, becomes the next government of The Bahamas,” The Tribune’s article stated, adding: “Dr Rollins’ statements contradicted comments he made in December, when he said Dr Minnis would be an absolute failure as Prime Minister.”
The article quoted Dr. Rollins as saying: “The member for Killarney may not be the leader of the Opposition but he is still the leader of the FNM and I would say this: it is said in the past that Mr. Perry Christie, the right honourable member for Centreville, was prepared to swim in his vomit to return to the PLP, well, I will tell you this for the record right now: I would never swim in any vomit, but if I have to get back in the FNM and run in the next election to make sure that the PLP has no chance, no chance whatsoever of regaining power, let me tell you something, that is something I would be prepared to do.”
Clearly, Renward Wells and his one time “political partner” are no longer headed in the same direction, and with a general election in The Bahamas constitutionally scheduled to be held by May of 2022, Dr. Rollins most certainly must still be regretting the ill-advised political decisions he made after both he and Mr. Wells left the PLP and joined the FNM, given the fact that Mr. Wells out-smarted him and became one of most ardent supporters of the “testicular head” of the FNM, who is the current Prime Minister of The Bahamas.
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