The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I WAS taken aback after I had seen a photo of popular Grand Bahama activist Troy Garvey on stage with Gregory Moss at a massive Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) rally in Freeport at the Old Portion Control grounds on Saturday, April 14, on a popular Internet newspaper that is pro-PLP. Moss is the PLP's standard bearer for the Marco City constituency. Garvey announced to the local press last December that he would also be running for that area as an independent candidate. There was talk around town that the activist had joined up with Cassius Stuart and the now dissolved Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) and with the National Development Party (NDP). Garvey, however, has denied these rumours.

There were also rumours circulating throughout Freeport that Garvey had even sought a nomination from the PLP to run in one of the five constituencies of Grand Bahama. In a interview with The Freeport News in December 2011, the activist admitted that he had made an application to the PLP for a nomination about two-and-a-half years ago. However, I understand that Garvey later "rescinded his letter after careful consideration and certain meetings."

As an independent candidate, Garvey was obviously intending to use his celebrity status in order to woo the electorate of Marco City. But it seems as if his campaign has not made any inroads that he would have liked it to. Everybody should be aware by now that the electoral contest is really between the governing Free National Movement (FNM) and the official opposition PLP. The fringe political organisations and the independent candidates will all get ground into powder by the two giant political organisations. There's simply no question about it. The FNM and the PLP are too deeply entrenched in The Bahamas.

I believe Garvey came to this conclusion after canvassing the grounds in Marco City and realising that the support for his candidacy was just not there. Garvey told The Freeport News in December that he had garnered the support from the business sector and from the residents of Marco City.

Now, the question that I would like to ask Garvey is this: will you still contest that area as an independent candidate, or have you abandoned the idea of running? Garvey had on a yellow T-shirt in the photo with Moss. Does this mean that he has joined the official opposition party? Will he now assist the campaign team of Moss? If this is the case, then the FNM standard bearer for Marco City, educator Norris Bain, now faces a two-pronged attack from the opposition party, now that Garvey has chosen to support the PLP. Bain has already come under immense scrutiny from the PLP on their websites.

Several months ago, Garvey said that if the people are saying to get rid of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Opposition Leader Perry Christie, then they have to get rid of the ownership of the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA). If Garvey believed this in December, which was only about three-and-a-half months ago, what has changed his mind about Christie and his leadership abilities since then? We must also bear in mind that it was in early April when Garvey chided the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) and the PLP in the press for being absent when Grand Bahamians were crying out because of high power bills. That is why I find it very interesting that he would be on stage at a PLP mass rally only a few weeks after criticising the opposition party for not looking out for struggling Grand Bahamians. Perhaps Garvey has rejoined the PLP because he smells blood in the water. Many people are now predicting that the PLP will win the general election. But I believe that the FNM could still pull this thing off. Ingraham is a shrewd political strategist who knows how to win general elections. What's more, a recent Nassau Guardian election poll revealed that the overwhelming majority of Bahamian voters are more opposed to the PLP than they are to the FNM. Garvey joining the PLP won't give Greg Moss that much of a boost in the polls. Not that many voters were going to support the activist on election day anyway. That is why I don't think Bain and his campaign team should be that overly concerned that he has rejoined the PLP.

In closing, I would like for the activist to set the record straight to the residents of Marco City. My brother has told me on several occasions that he would be voting for Garvey because he was the only one who has stood up to the Grand Bahama Power Company when every one else remained silent. I know he would be astonished to learn that Garvey has rejoined the PLP. We in Marco City would like to know why he has chosen to align himself with the PLP and Gregory Moss. In any event, the plot thickens in Marco City now that the noted activist has hitched his wagon to the PLP. The campaign machinery of Bain must now work harder in order to convince voters that he is the right candidate for Marco City.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama.

April, 2012.