By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
CENTRAL and South Abaco MP Edison Key yesterday confirmed that he will retire from politics in 2017 to end a 40-year long career as a parliamentarian.
Mr Key, 76, was in good spirits as he reflected on his time as a public servant; a journey he said that was filled with highs and lows.
Mr Key told The Tribune he was looking forward to making his exit from the political arena to give much needed attention to his personal life.
“This will be my last time,” Mr Key said. “Forty years is long enough. So the next two and a half years will wind me down. It is time I do some things for myself. I’d like to spend the time (taking) my wife fishing.
“I have been working for these people for four decades and it is time I relax.”
When asked if he has endorsed anyone to run in his constituency, Mr Key said it was too early to do so.
However, a well-placed source told The Tribune that the Free National Movement is considering former Minister of Education Desmond Bannister, who was once the Carmichael MP, to run for the seat.
Mr Key entered politics in 1977 and served two terms as a senator and chairman of the Bahamas Telecommunications Corporation, or BATELCO as it was then called, under a previous Progressive Liberal Party government.
He resigned his post as a PLP senator in 2005, and then left the party.
Later that year, he became a member of the FNM.
He was elected to Parliament by the Central and South Abaco constituency in the 2007 general election and appointed chairman of the Bahamas Agricultural and Industrial Corporation (BAIC).
He reclaimed the seat following the 2012 general election, which saw the FNM defeated in a landslide victory for the PLP.
Comments
ohdrap4 9 years, 1 month ago
Never too late to do the right thing!!!
duppyVAT 9 years, 1 month ago
He will be hailed as a great guy and a trailblazer ........................... but Abaco has a lot of problems as a result of his connections to the PLP, agriculture and Haitian migrant workers ......... I would like to hear that included in his political legacy. I hope he see that the Moore's Island community reach the 20th century before he retires .............. that must also be included in his political legacy.
TalRussell 9 years, 1 month ago
by TalRussell
Emac 9 years, 1 month ago
Good Riddance!!!
xtreme2x 9 years, 1 month ago
“I have been working for these people for four decades and it is time I relax.”
who is these people, he been working for?
Emac 9 years, 1 month ago
"these people"= The people in the mud
duppyVAT 9 years, 1 month ago
His tone is very condescending ............ how can a multi-millionaire who made his money off the backs of migrant workers and political perks have the gall to say "these people". But that is the spirit of Pingdomites at heart. Edison Key is a PLP and a HAI supporter. He is not an FNM ....... TRAITOR
avidreader 9 years, 1 month ago
Abaco has a permanent population of illegal immigrants, some of whom have now been made legal, primarily as a result of the short sighted actions of Edison Key (and others) who did not have the foresight to imagine what the consequences of their actions would be for the other residents of the island. This is the direct result of mainly uneducated people being put into positions of influence where they do not have the ability to see a little further ahead than their own nose. A person with no knowledge of history or of the wider world can make a series of bad decisions which ultimately result in unpleasant consequences for the rest of us.
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years, 1 month ago
Thank God! Edison Key (aka Papa 1) and later Hubiggity (aka Papa 2) are responsible for "the Haitianization of Abaco Program" that has met with such great success.
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