Two Former PLP MPs Can Teach Us About Party Message Discipline

George Smith, who carries the title honorable for life, and Philip Galanis, who is a former Member of Parliament and once in the line up to leader of the PLP, were in the press on Friday 27 April answering something that needed no answer.  The Chair of the PLP Senator Fred Mitchell at a PLP branch meeting indicated that contrary to  the FNM and media propaganda the PLP was not clueless as to what  was happening in the country and knew that the trending was against the PLP since midterm.  The headline of the Nassau Guardian said that Mr. Mitchell said “We Knew We Were Going To Lose”. The headline does not match up with the story.  Why on earth these two gentlemen find the need when a microphone is stuck in front of their face to answer that is beyond us.  It is like they have an addiction to yapping to the press.  This is particularly troubling when they’re the preachers of message discipline.  If the Chairman of the party says something, then there’s no need to answer it in public.  If they have something to say surely they are at a position in the party where they can communicate that in camera.  By making the comment they continue to feed into the narrative of a party divided and particularly with an organization The Nassau Guardian that is intent on making it appear so.  It is the book of Ecclesiastices that teaches us to keep silence.  These two men would do well to read and inwardly digest.