The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell yesterday downplayed the Free National Movement’s landslide victory over the Progressive Liberal Party, claiming that the FNM’s victory was due in part to “the money of foreign interests,” the “turn of clever phrases” and the manipulation of “a population suffering from the ill-effects of the economic recession”.

Mr Mitchell, in a statement, completely dismissed the “propaganda” and “rubbish” surrounding the reasons for the PLP’s crushing defeat at the polls on May 10, as he said there is “nothing revolutionary” or “far-reaching” about the FNM’s “simple election victory which can be reversed in five years”.

In response, however, Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest said Mr Mitchell’s statement “smacks of sour grapes” and that the Bahamian people’s decision to vote the PLP out of office was largely due to them being “tired” of the same kind of “arrogance” and “disrespect” from the PLP that Mr Mitchell’s statement exuded.

The FNM won 35 out of 39 seats in the House of Assembly while the PLP won four, only one of which was in New Providence. The election wiped out a number of senior PLP members and saw former Prime Minister Perry Christie lose his long held Centreville seat.

On Sunday, Mr Mitchell sent out a rallying cry of sorts to PLP supporters feeling dismayed in the wake of the Christie administration’s defeat, charging that there is no time to “get caught up in silly sentimentality and believe the FNM’s propaganda about ourselves.”

In his statement, Mr Mitchell mentioned attorney Fred Smith, QC, Lyford Cay billionaire Louis Bacon, Baha Mar original developer Sarkis Izmirlian and Tribune Publisher and CEO Eileen Carron as the “rich and powerful monied interests” that the PLP is up against.

“I have read a lot of rubbish over the past few days since the election from the FNM leadership and its supporters,” Mr Mitchell’s statement noted.

“My take on it is this. The FNM and its supporters should not believe their own propaganda.

The objective reality is that they simply have a mandate to govern for five years. There is nothing revolutionary about their victory or far-reaching. They were able to manipulate a population suffering from the ill effects of the economic recession which was never overcome and the turn of clever phrases plus the money of foreign interests to accomplish what they have and the failure of the PLP to correct the problem.”

He added: “Let us not get caught up in silly sentimentality, and believe the FNM’s propaganda about ourselves. It is simply rubbish. This is not the second coming but a simple election victory which can be reversed in five years. Emphasis on ‘can.’ We have got to move quickly though and put this past behind us.

“The problems are glaring and obvious but we will need professionals to guide us through the process.

The road will be difficult because these people in the FNM are especially vicious and vindictive. They have no moral or ethical underpinnings which will prevent them from doing anything that they can get away with. That is the reality.

“. . . Politics is not a crying game. It is a competition for power. Power is the only fact. They have it, we want it and need it to govern and protect the poor in this country. The rich are now in charge. Eileen Carron, Louis Bacon. Fred Smith, Sarkis Izmirlian. That is the fight now against rich and powerful monied interests,” Mr Mitchell noted, also thanking those who voted for him in Fox Hill.

In response, however, Mr Turnquest said: “It is incredibly hypocritical of Mr Mitchell to speak about the recession and the Free National Movement benefitting from the effects of the recession, when in 2012 they ran a campaign that exploited the fact that we were in the greatest recession since the Great Depression. The period from 2010 to 2017 was seen as a period of recovery globally, so for him to reference the recession is incredibly disingenuous of Mr Mitchell. “Mr Mitchell is in no position to talk about the rich being in charge,” Mr Turnquest continued. “When we look at the families that have been in control of the Progressive Liberal Party for time immemorial. Very wealthy individuals. When you look at the foreign interests that have backed them and have benefited, and have been proven to have benefited, from their administration, he’s in no position to speak.

“...And so again, his entire statements smacks of sour grapes. The reality is the Bahamian people were tired, they had enough of the arrogance, the same kind of arrogance displayed in this statement, tired of that arrogance and disrespect, tired of the appearance of conflicts and misuse of the treasury and all these special interests.

“The Bahamian people would have voted in favour of a government that will respect them, a government that has their best interests (at heart), a government that will seek to empower a broad base of Bahamians outside the traditional scope of the elite families that the PLP has been supporting (and) sustaining for many years.

“It is the people’s time, and the Bahamian electorate, after evaluating all that has been done and presented in this election, voted for a change, voted for a new direction, they voted for themselves. So no sour grapes statement can take away from the victory of the Bahamian people.”

Mr Mitchell was one of many senior PLP politicians, some considered powerhouses in party strongholds, to lose his seat to an FNM candidate in last Wednesday’s election. Mr Mitchell had represented the Fox Hill constituency since 2002.