The Tribune

“LET us by our conduct in the general election campaign that officially starts today prove ourselves worthy of the great democratic traditions of free, fair and peaceful elections that have made our country the marvel of nations around the world,” said Prime Minister Perry Christie in a televised address on Tuesday as he announced the end of the 2007-2012 parliament.

“And so, my fellow Bahamians, it’s over to you now,” he said. “Together you will decide the way forward. You will do so in general elections that will take place throughout the Commonwealth of the Bahamas on Wednesday, May 10, 2017.”

Many Bahamians were unhappy about the chosen date - May 10 — the 47th anniversary of the sinking of HMBS Flamingo and the deaths of four Bahamian seamen, who went down with their ship. Cuban jets had fired on the Flamingo after it had arrested two Cuban vessels illegally fishing off Ragged Island in the waters of a newly independent Bahamas.

But for others May 10 was the recall of the obeah man — “Ten, ten the Bible Ten”. This is the name of the book that Dr Timothy McCartney wrote in 1976 about obeah in The Bahamas — a subject he had studied for several years and which he discovered in the rallying cries in the PLP’s first election of 1967.

Was this year’s election date – May 10 – a conscious decision of the PLP government, or was it just habit that all things important should be on the 10th of some month— or the numerals add up to number 10? Are we being asked not only to give the PLP a second chance to deliver what was promised, but also to believe that somehow our future will improve if these “sperrids” are allowed to facilitate the return of a PLP government, which the prime minister himself admits “never claimed to be perfect”? Of course, if given a second chance, he promised that his government would make amends for its failures. It would be a foolish people who would accept such an empty challenge.

How many Bahamians are prepared to risk their futures with this government and the toss of the dice with the obeah man?

Speaking about obeah — the subject of his book —at an Historical Society meeting in 1975, Dr McCartney said that the title chosen for his book was “uniquely Bahamian”. “Ten, ten the Bible ten,” he said, “was a statement often used by Bahamians as a protection from ‘sperrids.‘” He said it was not only a forbidden number for the “sperrid”, but also a magic number for success or protection from the “sperrid”.

“For example,” he told his audience in 1975, “10 has been a rallying departure for success for the present government of the Bahamas - the Progressive Liberal Party.

“The PLP first came to power on January 10, 1967; increased their majority on April 10, 1968 in preparation for the general election, dissolved the House on August 10, 1972 and the Bahamas became an independent nation on July 10, 1973.”

“Ten, ten the Bible 10” phobia was broken when the FNM won the August 19, 1992 election. Although the August date had been set by the governing PLP, they were still within their traditional 10 because anything that came to 10 – for example one plus nine (in August 19) added up to 10 – qualified to be included in the biblical Number 10.

When it was the FNM’s turn to set an election date – at the end of its first term in office — May 2, 2002 was chosen. The FNM, after serving two five year terms, were defeated by the Christie government on May 7, 2012. Now at the end of his five year term, Prime Minister Christie, with the announcement that the 2017 elections will be held on May 10, has — whether intentionally or not—returned us to the mysteries of “Ten, ten, the Bible ten.”

However, the most unnerving feature of that earlier period of PLP government were the number of deaths of PLP politicians during its first 15 years in office. Whenever a bye-election was called, reporters in our office started to speculate as who in the PLP ranks would also die at this time.

Uriah McPhee, 42, PLP Shirlea MP, was the first and youngest PLP member to die in office. Eight months after the PLP became the government, Mr McPhee was dead. For some unknown reason, there was a great deal of mystery surrounding his death. At The Tribune, we had heard a report that he had died. However, the PLP denied the report. Then their mouthpiece, The Bahamian Times, announced that he had died on Sunday, February 18, 1967. The Times then changed the date of the death to Saturday, February 17. However, The Tribune persisted until it got a copy of the death certificate only to discover that Mr McPhee had died on Friday, February 16 at Boston General Hospital — two days before the PLP government would acknowledge his death. He died from a liver ailment. With him at the time of his death was his friend, Preston Albury, Rock Sound MP, who himself died in office of a heart attack on March 9, 1980. A bye-election was held after Mr McPhee’s death and Mr James Moultrie was returned. A short time afterwards, Mr Moultrie’s sister was dead.

These were the types of deaths that shook the community. During this period, although it might have been a coincidence — whenever there was an election there seemed to be a death in the PLP family. For example, the death of Clarence Bain, 67, on July 15, 1971 precipitated an election in the Mangrove Cay constituency. The PLP put up Darrell Rolle, newly returned home from studies abroad. Mr Rolle won, but very soon afterwards his sister, Cynthia Murphy, was dead.

And then there was the death of Shadrach Morris, 51, PLP Grants Town who died on July 10, 1982 of massive bleeding. His US doctor attributed it to drinking too much of an unknown bush tea.

These deaths precipitated letters to the editor, published in The Tribune. One letter, headed “PLP elections, the occult and deaths,” pointed out the dates of these deaths, either by a candidate or a close relation or friend, the writer suggesting that the PLP’s insistence of setting an election or important event on the 10th of a month “would seem to indicate a strong adherence to occult numerology which gives the same value (good luck or bad luck to a particular number). ” Acknowledging that it was all superstition, the writer then proceeded to list the deaths during the PLP’s term in office.

“Finally,” he wrote, “after the 1977 election, both Cedric Smith and DM Pratt died. Mr Smith had been the PLP candidate for Cat Island and Mr Pratt, though a civil servant, was an active and open supporter of the PLP.”

And then came the FNM under prime minister Hubert Ingraham. The cycle of superstition and poor government was broken.

Bahamians going to the polls on May 10 should want better for themselves and their children. On all counts the PLP has failed and does not deserve another chance.