Bahamas Blog

Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham finally spoke publicly about a topic that nearly everybody in the Bahamas has already had something to say about... his leading the FNM into the next elections.

We've heard Mr. Ingraham's hand-picked successor and current leader of the FNM party, Tommy Turnquest, tell us that Hubert won't run and instead will "serve me".

We've heard the opinions of numerous other FNMs, some agitating for Mr. Ingraham's return, others adamantly opposed to it.

Oddly, we've heard about as much regarding Mr. Ingraham's plans from PLPs, as we have from FNMs. Both PLP party chairman Raynard Rigby and Prime Minister Perry Christie have spoken passionately regarding the FNM leadership race.

Even the independent candidates, the two most outspoken of whom are former FNMs, have offered their opinions in the media on several occassions.

Now, finally, the only guy who really knows what's going on has spoken.

Basically, he says that he never really intended to run again, but if it is "the will of the people", he will do so.

Nice of him.

But if he were sincere, and not just "swinging" Tommy, he really would have spent the last three years transferring his "electability" to Mr. Turnquest, instead of laying low and allowing all the shenanigans and ambiguity that have occurred.

The sequence of events leads me to believe that Mr. Ingraham, a shrewd politican, saw the writing on the wall in 2000. He knew the FNM was going to lose the election because of the financial laws he pushed through and the failed referendum attempt. He also knew that he had to keep his promise to quit after two terms. So, he bailed out and let Tommy be the fall guy. Had he groomed a real successor, he would never have been able to make a comeback. Shrewd politicians always like to keep the doors open for a comeback.

But the real topic, one that is being ignored in the frenzy over Mr. Ingraham's decision, is the pathetic state of the FNM party. That they would need to drag Hubert Ingraham out of "retirement" in order to have someone, anyone, who they feel is capable of running against the absolute worse government the nation has ever had, is pretty damn pathetic.

That, in three years, the FNM party could not find a suitable up-and-coming policial contender from among their ranks shows that the party is bereft of leadership and ideas. They are, like the PLP, a gang of cronies jockeying for power. They have nothing to offer but promises and stale ideas.

Had they spent the last three years presenting solutions, instead of whining and criticizing about everything the PLP government did; and had they groomed and promoted a group of new, young, humble and sincere politicians (even Tommy or Dion Foulkes), they might have my support. But, instead, we see them preparing to offer the same stale, mentally exhausted group of cronies. The very same people who have failed us before, many of whom are as much responsible for the mess this country is in, as Perry Christie and the PLP.

Bahamians are truly left without a choice in the upcoming election, as they weigh the cons (there are really no "pros") of which gang of incompetent losers they want to be responsible for the next five years of continuous decline of our society and economy.