Rodney Moncur having dinner with Loretta Butler Turner, who appointed him to the Senate when she was FNM opposition leader in the House of Assembly.
By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., November 27, 2018 — If the axiom “a picture is worth one thousand words” is true, then two photos Rodney Moncur posted on his Facebook page are “worth” several volumes of The Encyclopædia Britannica. One of them is of him having dinner with Loretta Butler Turner and the other was posted with the following caption: “Senator The Hon. Rodney Moncur, JP is shown presenting his award for The Best Talk Show and Talk Show Host to Former Leader of The Opposition, Loretta Butler Turner.”
When I saw them, I could not resist the temptation to offer this comment: “So Rodney, is Loretta now one of your Woman Dem coterie? Smart move if she is thinking about making a comeback. By the way, congratulations on your Bahamas Press Club award.”
I must admit, that I have gained a new level of respect for Mr. Moncur. Not too long ago I used to refer to him as an irresponsible buffoon, primarily because he routinely demonstrated that he had no respect for members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force who are responsible for maintaining law and order in the country. Indeed, he regularly promoted conspiracy theories about wanton police brutality without a shred of evidence, and in the process developed a devoted following of persons who were likewise unappreciative of the excellent job the police were, and still are, doing keeping crime under control – as best as they can – in the country. He even was confined to prison briefly because of his anti-police rantings.
I don’t know whether he cultivated this image as part of a long-range plan, but it was unquestionably a shocking surprise to a vast majority of Bahamians when Loretta Butler-Turner ousted current Prime Minister Dr. Hubert A. Minnis as leader of the then Free National Movement (FNM) opposition in the House of Assembly in December of 2016 and appointed Rodney Moncur as an FNM Senator.
This political faux pas by Mrs. Butler-Turner, who is a member of one of the most prominent political families in The Bahamas, made her a “laughing stock” among Bahamians generally and derailed the serious campaign she had mounted to replace Dr. Minnis as leader of the FNM and possibly become the first female Prime Minister of The Bahamas.
What Mrs. Butler-Turner did not take into consideration when she convinced the majority of the elected FNM members of the House of Assembly to support her “political coup” was that Dr. Minnis had tremendous support among rank-and-file members of the FNM generally and her leadership aspirations were doomed to be interred in the political graveyard reserved in The Bahamas for ambitious politicians who prematurely make their move for the top position in their party.
Had she read the “political tea leaves” correctly, Mrs. Butler-Turner would have realized that although there seemed to be widespread discontent among the electorate about the direction the country was heading under then Prime Minister Perry Christie and his Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government, she would have realized that the time was not right for her to make her move.
As the granddaughter of Sir Milo Butler, one of the country’s historic political icons, she was on track to eventually possibly be The Bahamas’ first female Prime Minister. She is powerful and gifted orator and she was well-ensconced in one of the safest FNM seats in the country as the representative for Long Island.
What she did not factor into her failed plan to replace Dr. Minnis as leader was that he had a strong grassroots following, which in no small measure was developed because of his own innate political savvy and the ongoing advice he received from his younger brother, Cyril “Boxer” Minnis, one of the most effective grassroots campaigners in Bahamian politics.
“Boxer” Minnis is one of the original FNM die-hard followers of Cecil Wallace Whitfield, one of the Dissident Eight who left the PLP in 1970 and subsequently formed the FNM in 1972 along with moderate members of the former UBP government who remained active in politics. Wallace-Whitfield was elected leader of the FNM after it was founded during meetings held at the Spring Hill Farms estate in Fox Hill of the late Jimmy Shepherd, who was also a member of the Dissident Eight.
“Boxer” Minnis has been a resident of Freeport, Grand Bahama, for many years and heavily involved in politics in Grand Bahama, which became known as FNM Country because it was Wallace-Whitfield’s political home base. When Wallace-Whitfield died in May 9, 1990, he was the representative for Grand Bahama’s Marco City constituency and “Boxer” Minnis was one of his chief campaign generals.
“Boxer” Minnis’ political influence in Grand Bahama indeed is one of the main reasons why the FNM won all five of the House of Assembly seats in Grand Bahama in the May 10, 2017 general election.
Clearly, Loretta Butler-Turner demonstrated that she was woefully naïve to not do her “political homework” before deciding to challenge Dr. Minnis for the FNM’s leadership, and her appointment of Rodney Moncur as a Senator also signaled a degree of irresponsibility fueled by a lust for power that was downright dangerous for the country at the time.
Meanwhile, Rodney still refers to himself as “Senator The Hon. Rodney Moncur,” although he ceased being a Senator after Mrs. Butler-Turner’s political coup backfired and she was defeated in her bid for re-election as an independent candidate. To his credit, however, now that he is an “award-winning” talk show host, it is commendable that Rodney Moncur has taken the time to publicly thank Loretta Butler Turner for assisting him in transforming his life, so to speak.
The picture on his Facebook page of him and Loretta Butler-Turner has the following caption: “Having dinner at The Estate of Loretta Butler Turner, having a delicious meal.”
With all the discontent that the pundits on Facebook claim now exists among the electorate with regard to the current FNM government, maybe — just maybe – Loretta Butler Turner’s dream of one day being the first female Prime Minister of The Bahamas is no longer unachievable, now that she seemingly has the full support of Woman Dem Leader, Senator The Hon. Rodney Moncur.
