The Tribune

DITOR, The Tribune.

Most leaders never leave office unless there are mandated term limits; an act of God or due to debilitating illness.

The late great Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, if he was not at that time suffering from the ravages of cancer, would probably have led a PLP administration until his death.

Ingraham has been sidelined by the devastation of the FNM in the 2012 general elections. He is a man with an oversized ego and simply could not accept the political humiliation which was heaped upon him and his half heartedly embraced FNM.

Had he not appeared to have become an arrogant son of a witch, he probably would have been returned to high office. Events simply went to his head.

I could care less about his so-called desire to retire from public life. Once an individual gets that political itch, it becomes well neigh impossible to jettison the feelings of entitlement; perks of office and the disproportionate levels of power.

It is precisely because of these reasons that I postulate and firmly believe that Ingraham will make a comeback attempt in the very near future.

Apart from this his political legacy has yet to be defined after all of his years in elective office. He, like his political nemsis, Christie, has failed, miserably at this juncture, to etch his place in Bahamian history.

Unlike Sir Lynden, neither of these protagonists has presided over the creation of a national institution such as The National Insurance Board; The College of The Bahamas and The Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

Yes, they built one or two substandard homes, at inflated prices and, yes, a few hundred domestically based jobs were generated under their watches but by and large, what else did they do after almost a collective 80 years in parliament?

While one must concede that the New Providence Road works were necessary the cost of the same will be an albatross around the collective neck of generations of Bahamians yet unborn.

Neither of these individuals will ever want for another dime for as long as they are alive. If their wives live longer than them, they too will be ok thanks to massive prime ministerial pensions.

The other day Christie opined that his “legacy” which even he has no idea of, at this time, will not be tied to the performance or lack thereof of the Commissioner of Police and The Royal Bahamas Police Force.

During the 2012 electoral campaign, Christie and his colleagues claimed that they had “the solutions” to the nation’s “problems” and that they would hit the ground running from day one.

Well, they now say that they are holding referenda and wish to have input from various people on all manner of issues. What, however, is the legacy which Christie seeks?

Seventy is not a relatively old age and he might yet conceptualise and implement a signature project which will enable him to gracefully retire and allow others within the PLP to come to the forefront.

The Hon Philip “Brave” Davis (PLP-Cat Island), the erstwhile Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Works, comes from humble beginnings and has empathy with and for the average Bahamian. He is not an individual who is susceptible to pomp and pageantry.

He suffers from no dreams of unnecessary grandeur like Ingraham and Christie.

Brave came up the rough side of the mountain and had to excel as a Barrister to achieve a comfortable life for his family and himself.

No one, to my knowledge, has given him a dime and there is absolutely no suspicions of corruption which are able to be levelled against him.

He is, indeed, a man for all seasons and after he becomes Prime Minister of this wonderful nation, we will, finally, enter the proverbial Promised Land.

Mischievous people often ask me about “the connection” between Brave and myself. He and I grew up as boys just off Wulff Road, west of Mackey Street.

He was like an “adopted son” to my late father, the Reverend Doctor Ortland H Bodie Sr, Divine Illuminator 33º. He was mentored by my father and practically lived in our home.

Since my disbarment, Brave, along with a handful of former colleagues, has ensured that I did not have to beg for bread. He is my friend and brother for life and where he goes I will go.

His friends are my friends and his enemies, if he has any, are my enemies. It is as simple as that, no more no less.

The hoofbeats of history are fast overtaking Messrs Ingraham and Christie.

Their eras will be long remembered as times during which they could have made a significant difference in the lives of the collective masses.

What did they do, however? In Ingraham’s case he squandered his political capital on one roll of the dice.

Christie is a good man but clearly of a double, if not triple mind. To God then, in all things, be the glory.

ORTLAND H BODIE Jr

Nassau,

February 27, 2014.