PETER TURNQUEST: DEAD MAN WALKING

It is all a sad ending to what, had it ended differently, would have been a stellar political career. Peter Turnquest MP announced with a whimper that he had accepted what seemed to be the inevitable, he is retiring from front line politics and saying good bye.

One remembers maybe eight weeks ago or so, he was at his haughtiest.  He was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. He got up on a point of order and in answering an exchange which had preceded across the floor with his then opposite number Chester Cooper, he scoffed at objections by Picewell Forbes by saying that he did not expect Picewell to understand what he was talking about. This brought a phone call to Mr. Forbes from no less than the Prime Minister himself about the condescending remark.  Later Mr. Turnquest himself apologized but the damage was done.  He had revealed his true nature.

Now, he has announced that he has consulted with his family and decided that after being notified by the Prime Minister that he will not get the nomination for East Grand Bahama again, he will fade into the sunset.  He thanked the constituents, bid them goodbye and said that he would still support the FNM.

That is the curiosity for us. In the days immediately following the note he sent to his campaign team suspending the campaign, he said he told friends that he planned to run as an independent because although he knew he could not win, he  had to strike back at Dr. Minnis.  All of that bravado has disappeared.

So Kwasi Thompson, the FNM Senator, is slated to get the nomination. Peter Turnquest has pledged to help the FNM in the seat. This strikes us as political cowardice.

The PLP is not surprised since they have their own experience with Mr. Turnquest.  He was slated to become the PLP’s nominee for East Grand Bahama just before the 2012 general election but he needed the PLP to pay off his mortgage before he would agree. When that failed, he became the FNM nominee.

What we want to know is whether or not there was a quid pro quo for the stepping out without a whimper. Like is there a pardon or immunity deal from prosecution in his future, given the array of legal problems, he will have to face with the missing 28 million dollars from Sky Bahamas Airline which caused him to have to resign from his high office.

So bottom line: as he heads out into the sunset is the echo out loud as for Peter Turnquest: “ DEAD MAN WALKING ”.