THINGS ARE GOING WELL YET PEOPLE UNHAPPY
A political party in The Bahamas has to be very careful in its craft because the electorate of The Bahamas has proven to be fickle. It is almost a perfect democracy in that for the last 25 years no political party has been able to govern this country for more than five years. No matter how they start off with a popular and lopsided majority, within five years that majority fizzles and the recriminations against those in power are amazing.
Last year when the PLP won office, it thought “well we have to break this cycle”. The Prime Minister at the time Hubert Minnis was unpopular and that is an understatement. He was reviled everywhere. He had mismanaged the health pandemic. He had suspended civil liberties. People were tired of him, tired of being locked up in their homes, tired of the capriciousness of the FNM, their insensitivity and well their time was up. So they dumped Hubert Minnis for Brave Davis and the PLP.
The question for the PLP almost immediately was: how would they break that chain?
It is not a difficult question and the answers we suspect are not difficult either.
But it is also easy to get caught up in the swoon of power and forget the essentials. The one essential is that you cannot neglect the party, the organization that helped to get you into power.
The other is that you have to have a set of disciplined supporters, who are able to objectify their behaviour.
Right now the PLP is about to come into one year in office. That means if all things are equal in four years, the PLP will face a general election. There is too much noise in the market after this year one. There are too many unforced errors.
Hubert Ingraham, who is not a friend of the PLP, told his supporters during their celebration on the weekend of the 19 August that all the FNM has to do is wait and watch. It was only a matter of time before the PLP messes up and then the FNM will be the Government.
Those who are unable to objectify their conduct, be warned. The leaders must take immediate action to stop the rot.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday, 27th August , 2022 up to midnight: 380,564;
Number of hits for the month of August up to Saturday, 27th August, 2022 up to midnight: 1,553,874;
Number of hits for the year 2022 up to Saturday, 27th August, 2022 up to midnight: 10,817,462.