By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., August 27, 2021—If it is true that the “past is prologue,” as Shakespeare eruditely proclaims in a quotation from his play “The Tempest,” surely the Free National Movement (FNM) made an awfully bad decision in selecting IT’S ABOUT YOUR FUTURE as its campaign slogan.
Prime Minister Dr. Hubert A. Minnis and his FNM slate of candidates will have an extremely difficult time explaining to the Bahamian electorate leading up to the general election that the Free National Movement (FNM) should be returned as the government based on its performance as the Government of The Bahamas over the past four-plus years.
Aside from the fact that Dr. Minnis has been the worst Prime Minister in the history of The Bahamas, he has convincingly demonstrated over and repeatedly that he lacks the leadership skills to resolve internal political crises that are inevitable in all governments with intelligent decision-makers.
A case in point is his very public dispute with former Minister of Health Dr. Duane Sands in May of 2020 that resulted in the health minister submitting his resignation at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc in the country and around the world.
As I noted in an article in BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, it “was indeed a bad decision at a time when The Bahamas really, really, really needs the excellent leadership Dr. Sands has been providing the Ministry of Heath in the war against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic that is wreaking havoc around the world and has had a devastating impact on The Bahamas’ number one economic lifeline – tourism.”
Forcing Dr. Sands to resign clearly was not in the best interest of the country, but because the Prime Minister lacked the requisite bridge-building political leadership skills to resolve the controversy surrounding an ill-advised decision Dr. Sands had made, Dr. Minnis accepted his resignation.
To make matters worse, Prime Minister Minnis nonsensically appointed Renward Wells as Minister of Health, notwithstanding the fact that historically Mr. Well’s nomadic political resume is more reflective of a political wheeler and dealer, with no medical experience and, indeed, no ‘executive management’ experience on the scale of what is required at the Ministry of Health.
There is no question that Mr. Wells was a total disaster as Miniter of Health. When the House of Assembly was prorogued and the September 16 election date was announced, he was in the midst of a simmering potential scandal surrounding the payment of honorariums to selected healthcare workers for their exceptional service during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some 150 healthcare workers were each paid honorariums of $5,000, but for whatever reason, Mr. Wells’ chauffeur and personal assistant were each awarded $1,158.40 honorariums. However, after this budding scandal became a public controversy, Mr. Wells announced that h had asked his driver and personal assistant to return the money they received back to the Public Treasury. Given Mr. Wells’ questionable track record as a politician, someone at the treasury should confirm for the Bahamian people that the money has been returned to the treasury.
Mr. Wells’ itinerant political history is well documented.
In an article published in The Tribune on November 5, 2015, Andrew Wilson, the then chairman of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), branded both Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins and Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells as “political opportunists” over their decision to leave the governing PLP to join the then opposition FNM.
Mr Wilson said their decision to join the FNM “invoked a feeling of déjà vu given their track record, which saw them abandon their fledging third party, the National Development Party, for the PLP ahead of the 2012 general election.”
Mr. Wilson suggested that their decision had little to do with national development and was instead a self-serving move by both men to secure the political power necessary to maintain their status.
Mr Wilson was quoted as saying: “It was just three short years ago, when these very men, then part of the NDP, blasted the Christie-led PLP for what they called at the time, their corrupt practices. (Shortly) after proclaiming their adamant opposition to the PLP, however, these very men joined the ranks of the PLP after being promised nominations – which they eventually won.”
Both Wells and Rollins were elected to the House of Assembly in 2012 as members of the PLP, but left as a “team” to join the then opposition FNM.
Rollins subsequently joined a group of dissident FNMs, led by Loretta Butler Turner, who attempted but failed to have Dr. Minnis removed as leader of the opposition FNM.
To be sure, there are a number of other examples where Dr. Minnis as Opposition Leader and as Prime Minister Minnis exhibited poor leadership, yet he and the FNM seem to be convinced that with its election theme, IT’S ABOUT YOUR FUTURE, the Bahamian electorate will return the FNM as the government of The Bahamas.
Of course, they are wrong – dead wrong. Let us say, for example, that Dr. Duane Sands wins his seat in Elizabeth and the FNM is returned as the government and Dr. Minnis is again the Prime Minister, will he be able to resolve his differences with Dr. Sands and again include him in his cabinet?
By the same token, if incumbent Renward Wells miraculously wins his seat in Bamboo Town, will he again have a seat around the cabinet table?
Voters should insist that Dr. Minnis answers these questions before September 16. To be sure, if you juxtapose the FNM’s slogan IT’S ABOUT YOUR FUTURE in the same sentence with VOTE FNM FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE, it is an oxymoron, given the definition of oxymoron as being, “One or two words in which seemingly contradictory terms appear side by side.”
Fortunately, A NEW DAY is on the horizon as Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Philip “Brave” Davis and the PLP are poised to decisively win the September 16 election and restore good governance to The Bahamas.
