A young lady who works at Creative Hands, a breakfast and bakery café in Treasure Cay, Abaco, takes a selfie with Alfred Sears during his recent visit to the island.
By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Deputy Chief Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
FORMER Attorney General Alfred Sears took his confident public pronouncements on winning the Progressive Liberal Party’s leadership race a step further yesterday by predicting that with him at the helm of the political organisation, it would win the majority of the seats in the House of Assembly.
In stark contrast, he went on to estimate that if Prime Minister Perry Christie were to remain the party’s leader, there would be a fifty-fifty chance that the PLP could be re-elected to government.
More specifically, Mr Sears said a PLP under his direction could secure about 28 seats, whereas Mr Christie would most likely only be able to deliver 19 seats.
Explaining this position, while a guest on the Darold Miller Live show, Mr Sears said Mr Christie was sure to win this number of seats should the Free National Movement remain “fractured”.
“Under me I believe that the Progressive Liberal Party will win overwhelmingly,” he said in response to questions from Mr Miller. “Both in terms of the popular vote which it did not win the last time as well as I would say of the 38 seats…I think it would be about 28 (seats).”
Asked how well he thought the party could perform with Mr Christie as leader, Mr Sears said: “I think it would be very close. I think it depends on the opposition whether the parties are unified…”
“Provided the opposition is still fractured I would say it could be a fifty-fifty chance,” he said, when he was pressed further on the matter.
“The party will support whatever the outcome is and do our best. I am talking about as I talk to people in Fort Charlotte and now as I move throughout our country and having an opportunity to speak to party officers and stalwarts I am getting a sentiment within the country that, of course, there have been polls, there has been the most recent referendum where the base of our party would have voted against the four bills,” he added.
He also sought to again dispel a rumour that web shop bosses fund his campaign for PLP leader. Instead, Mr Sears said, he receives small contributions and joked that he would love to be given $50,000 to campaign. He had spoken about the matter on a previous appearance on the radio talk show.
If he wins the leadership race, Mr Sears said yesterday that he would allow Mr Christie to continue on as prime minister and complete the mammoth tasks the country now faces, as he pointed to the Baha Mar situation.
In an interview with The Tribune earlier this week, Mr Sears said after meeting with stalwarts and branch executives his support has grown exponentially and he has been assured that he will be the next leader of the PLP and the country’s next prime minister.
His comments came after he ended his “listening” tour in Abaco over the weekend. Mr Sears said the people he met there were “excited” about his vision and welcomed him warmly, while embracing his change agenda and assuring him of their support.
He said the stalwarts expressed a concern about a lack of sustained engagement by the PLP other than at election time and the need to ensure that the constitutional structure of the party is operational.
Last week, Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister V Alfred Gray insisted that the prime minister was “entrenched” in the party’s top post and Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said while it is good for people to see democracy at work during the convention where all posts will be open for challenge, she was “quite sure” and “firm” that Mr Christie will win hands down.
Comments
sheeprunner12 7 years, 7 months ago
This country cannot afford another5 years of PLP governance .......... even if Sears rescind every ratified PLP candidate and replace them with saints
John 7 years, 7 months ago
The Titanic was unsinkable. In case you still want to believe that.
TalRussell 7 years, 7 months ago
Comrades! The danger Alfred will soon face is if people and the media step back from merely dismissing his run for PLP party leadership as no more than a protective and fake cover his enemies shield for the prime minister, and his run is taken seriously, which I am starting to believe it is, so will deputy prime minister "Brave" Davis, ministers Freddy & Obadiah, and everyone else in the PLP's leadership contenders barn who wants to be party leader.
This my Comrades is just the way politics works when the prize is valuable and all powerful. This will open the leadership wanna-be's barn doors to hell and back.. So, Alfred, be's careful with the selfies, is my best political advice. Go now island to island but you must walk with a smaller and quieter stick, whilst you forget with all the pretty picture taking stuff.
Good Luck!
realfreethinker 7 years, 7 months ago
"If he wins the leadership race, Mr Sears said yesterday that he would allow Mr Christie to continue on as prime minister and complete the mammoth tasks the country now faces, as he pointed to the Baha Mar situation." This the man that wants to lead the country? On what authority he has to decide who will remain as the PM. The brother don't even have a seat in the house of assembly This is what the constitution says " the member of the House of Assembly who is the leader of the Party which commands the support of the majority of the members of that House, or
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 7 months ago
If Sears wins, Brave Davis is still DPM, Allyson Maynard Gibson is AG or Chief Justice, Jerome Fitzgerald is "somewhere", Bradley Roberts is Chairman, Junior ministers continue to grab potters cay contracts. I don't see Sears holding out as the only good among the rotten apples.
John 7 years, 7 months ago
Most of the problems (mammoth in nature, Bah Mar, crime, credit rating cuts, social unrest, lost in investor confidence, very hard economic times, especially for young Bahamian males, some who turn to crime, failed referendum, double taxation under the guise of tax reformation, false promises, especially to the inner cities and Family Islands like Eleuthera, were created by the Christie administration. Christie, in his third term as prime minister has failed to bring relief or assistance to the people of Eleuthera. And he was a part of the administration that dismantled the farms and canning factories in this island and aggressively chased the foreign investors out of the island. Investors who used their own money and had this (Eleuthera) islands' infrastructure years ahead of the rest of the Bahamas. Hatchet bay farms, canning factories, storm He trying to fix what he broke. Freeport would be a joke today to where Eleuthera would be if the PLP and including Perry Christie did not do what they did to that island. Barak Obama in the main time, is chilling and holding the fort and keeping things steady until February 2017, whilst Perry Christie is begging (did I say begging) for another term to fix the things he didn't fix (or he dismantled or simply just let fall apart) or to finish build his legacy. Shall we then speak about the farm in Andros?
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 7 months ago
Come to think of it, Sears even very closely resembles Craig Flowers in physical and facial appearance. Can't help but wonder what a paternity test might prove here!
stillwaters 7 years, 7 months ago
Once Sears challenges Christie and the other scared bullies see that he did not burn on the spot for challenging their leader, more of them will come sliming out to join the contest.
sheeprunner12 7 years, 7 months ago
It will be interesting to see who will be on the Sears' ticket in the PLP convention (for all party posts) ......... or is Sears a one-man gang???? Sears should have already announced his running slate for PLP leadership (leader, deputy, chairman, treasurer etc.) ........ the mere fact that he has not, seems that this is not a serious challenge to Perry (just an election ploy)
proudloudandfnm 7 years, 7 months ago
Perry owns the PLP stalwarts.
period.
Reality_Check 7 years, 7 months ago
Don't be so naive. Each member of the PLP party apparatus (including the most senior stalwart councilors and "Big Bad Brad" himself) is beholden to whomever puts the most "feathers" in their nest.....with a dollar sign before "feathers". And right now, the numbers bosses consider Christie to be a "political has been" who serves absolutely no purpose for them going forward. Craig Flowers and Sebas Bastian know well to whom they must cut their cheques to serve the political ambitions of their annointed man - Sears! Poor Perry now has so many long knives drawn at his back that he dare not look over his shoulder!
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