WHY IS MINNIS DOING IT?
As political analysts, you try to read the tea leaves every week, to figure out what the politics of the day means. When a politician does or says something. no matter, how small, what is the meaning, and why is it being done. What impact will it have on the larger direction and trajectory of the country and the public policy?
With the Free National Movement’s convention coming up on 1 June 2024, the activity now is intense. The challenger is Hubert Minnis, the underdog, in the fight, even though he is a former Prime Minister and has been for the last two and a half years fighting to regain his reputation and to undercut the now leader Michael Pintard.
Michael Pintard himself has not impressed the Bahamian public. He talks too much. He cannot hold his counsel and is always in some contentious set to whether in the House or in the press. He comes off as a complaining crank who is just not fit for purpose. Then there are those dark stories about why he had to resign as Chairman of the Free National Movement.
When you cannot supply a logical answer to what appears quizzical, you then start to speculate widely as to why something is being done.
Hubert Minnis is dammed if he does and damned if he doesn’t. If he does not win, it is almost certain that he will be further marginalized by Michael Pintard Indeed two former Deputy Prime Ministers of the Free National Movement have already said that Dr. Minnis was responsible for losing the general election and should move on. That could only mean that if Dr. Minnis loses, he will not be able to get his nomination back.
If he wins, given the vitriol coming from the anti-Minnis quarter, the question will be who do the MPs support? His victory might well be pyrrhic if he does not have their support with the Governor General.
In the end, it makes no difference to the PLP. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. All we say to the PLP is do not sleep. Work each day as if your life depended on it. We live with a fickle, transactional electorate and that makes this situation for the PLP very dangerous.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 11 May 2024 up to midnight: 544,933;
Number of hits for the year 2024 up to Saturday 11 May 2024 up to midnight: 873,222;
Number of hits for the year 2024 up to Saturday 11 May 2024 up to midnight: 1,788,626;