A PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION OF POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR
Shane Gibson with PLPs outside the Lynden Pindling Centre 20 October 2023
The following story written by Candia Dames appeared in the Nassau Guardian on Wednesday 18 October 2023:
There were no names called, but Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Fred Mitchell appeared yesterday to suggest that Shane Gibson, the once disgraced and eventually vindicated former Member of Parliament for Golden Gates, is lashing out because he suffers from something akin to post traumatic stress disorder given all he suffered after the Minnis administration assumed office in 2017.
Gibson was brought on multiple corruption charges, but was acquitted in 2019.
After he sued for false and malicious imprisonment, the Davis administration last year reached a $2.5 million settlement with him, according to his lawyer.
Now, the former Christie Cabinet minister is seeking the PLP’s nomination for West Grand Bahama and Bimini, a seat that became vacant upon the September 25, 2023 death of Obie Wilchcombe.
After Mitchell announced that only individuals who were aspirants for a PLP nomination for that constituency in 2021 will be considered for the by-election nomination, Gibson accused Mitchell of intentionally trying to cut him out of the nomination.
In a Tribune article published on Monday, Gibson was quoted as saying, “The chairman is 70; I’m 62. The results of my ministry is clear. I built 1,500 houses in my first term in office.
“I didn’t have a ministry where I could fly up and down all over the place and that’s my ministry. I had a ministry where I had to actually work, not where I fly, interact, have coffee and tea and drinks and cigars. My ministry is helping people and getting things done.”
Yesterday, Mitchell released his latest voice note. He started his message by stating, “No coffee or tea for me this morning and cigars are bad for your health.
“Life is a lot of fun these days in some respects, but also quite serious and sad in many other respects. We’ve just lost a dear colleague and friend by death. We have to elect a successor in a seat which should be ours handily for the PLP.
“As chairman, I’m an agent of the leader of the party and spokesman for the PLP as an institution. These are not my personal views.
“The press cannot give me advice on how to do my job. Their job is to sell newspapers with quirky headlines and misguided interpretations set to titillate and alarm. The day I take advice from the Tribune is the day pigs get wings.”
Mitchell noted that the PLP has engaged in the process of choosing its candidate for the by-election, the date of which has not yet been announced.
“There is a constitution and there are rules. The rules will be followed to a T. Be assured of that, but PLPs, let us do our work and not be drawn into sideshows,” he said.
“It is important to stand our ground. As public figures, each of us who now represent the PLP in Parliament, both the House and Senate, went through a module that taught us to be self aware, not self absorbed; that taught us how to objectively assess our public behavior.
“So we ought to know the art of keeping our counsel. Take my example, every public pronouncement has been carefully nuanced and worded to give generic advice and counsel without calling any PLP’s name, and I won’t do so today.
“This is because I understand that some public figures who are no longer on the frontlines with us suffered some public shaming and psychological assaults which are difficult to overcome. It requires time. It requires your friends to help you objectify your behavior.
“It is similar to the assault that soldiers often get on the battlefield, post traumatic stress. So when you see people lash out in these situations, you have to show sympathy first of all and sorrow for what has transpired, even though the truth remains the truth.”
Mitchell said the issue at hand has nothing to do with age.
“Again, the example of John Profumo, the British minister who had to resign, lost his job because of an elicit sexual relationship, but by doing charitable work after that, he rehabilitated his reputation; so there are many other ways to serve in public life beyond frontline politics,” he said.
“But you know, Oscar Wilde said, ‘Each man kills the things he loves’ so, I guess, a man must do what he must do.”
Mitchell said there is a new generation of Grand Bahamians and Biminites who are ready and willing to serve.
“They see this as their opportunity, and we wish everyone well,” he said.
“But my advice as chairman of the party is in this situation, PLPs forgive all the insults.
“The FNM did a wicked thing to many of our members when they were in office. The battle scars run deep and reactions may often cause expressions that you don’t really mean to say, but the facts are the facts.
“So let us pray for restoration and sagacity, for physical and mental health and equanimity for everyone in our lives.
“Pray for those who revile us and persecute us. They know not what they do. Let us all pray that the Candidates Committee and the National General Council (NGC) choose wisely.”
The Candidates Committee is set to interview aspirants today for the nomination.
The NGC is scheduled to meet tomorrow.