THE move by the PLP to block Monique Pindling from running in her father’s seat in the next election gives a glimpse inside the party mechanism.
At first glance, it seems a straightforward decision – Ms Pindling may want to take up her father’s mantle, but Picewell Forbes retained that seat for the PLP when all around his fellow party members were losing theirs.
Indeed, it seems odd that when there are so many seats to contest for the PLP that Ms Pindling should choose one of the few seats already occupied by a fellow party member.
For what reason? Vanity, perhaps? No one owns the votes of any section of the community, and even more so no one owns people’s votes out of a sense of legacy.
No, Ms Pindling must forge her own reputation in the eyes of voters, not just rely on her father’s history, so she should find a seat to run in and make her own legacy.
Even Fred Mitchell, who seldom admits a flaw in the PLP’s armour, admits that there was a “tsunami” that swept away the PLP in 2017. Alas, no meditation from Mr Mitchell on what it was about the previous PLP administration that caused voters to turn so forcefully away from the party – or what the current incarnation is doing to show it is different from the administration led by Perry Christie.
And yet in all of this, the presence of Ms Pindling does prompt questions about when our political landscape will change.
Hers is a younger face in a political landscape dominated at present by two older men – PLP leader Philip ‘Brave’ Davis is 68 and Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is 65. Behind those two are the long shadows cast by former leaders Perry Christie and Hubert Ingraham.
So what is each party doing to find a place for the next generation of leaders, the future prime ministers of The Bahamas?
After all, Minister of National Security Marvin Dames has spoken often lately of the need for succession planning – where is the succession planning to cultivate our leaders of tomorrow?
In doing so, parties cannot keep leaning on the old, familiar faces – you know them well, the ones who never seem to give up running for office no matter how roundly they have been rejected by the electorate.
Those same parties cannot easily claim to be offering a bold, new vision if its candidates are part of a stale, old slate judged to have failed before.
So we look forward to an age with younger candidates with new ideas – it’s time for them to earn their own place, and make their own legacy in a new era of Bahamian politics.
Comments
ThisIsOurs 4 years, 1 month ago
I am not judging any candidate by any physical characteristic. Young candidates can fail miserably, tief and victimize others just as good or even better than the olds ones. I need evidence of the good theyve done their ability to think and evidence that they have vision.
Godson 4 years, 1 month ago
YEAH! But not the power. In other words, pass them the stick but not the responsibility that comes with the position. But in he case of South Andros there no need to fix what's not broken.
sheeprunner12 4 years, 1 month ago
Our sitting politicians & future party leadership need to get rid of every "royal family" who still looking to get fat off the HOG and manipulate the common people…….. no more Pindlings, Hannas, Butlers, Symonettes, Bostwicks, Maynards, Turnquests, Foulkes etc. ………. Too much damage done for the past 50 years.
sealice 4 years, 1 month ago
Both of these parties are broken - we need to leave em like that and get some more parties started and functioning in order to be a true democracy.
birdiestrachan 4 years, 1 month ago
All of the USA president candidates are over 70. Young people have their place. and there should be a mix. But there has to be more than just young.
Abraham, Joseph , Zechariah were not young. but God used them They have to come with more than Just "I am Young" it will not do.
Note the FNM young man Robinson. there is nothing there empty.
ThisIsOurs 4 years, 1 month ago
Agree youth is not a cureall.
Adrian Gibson is also young, but he's creating chaos. He has tremendous potential, but they shoved him in a position he was probably bound to fail at given his take charge personality (which can be a good thing in the apocalypse) combined with his inexperience, his lack of competence in the area and at the executive level
John 4 years, 1 month ago
It’s still a matter of divide and conquer. While Bahamians are playing dolly house and fighting partisan politics, the country’s resources are being frittered away. Salt, sand, aragonite and even tourism. Why is the country still subsidizing an industry that generates billions and billions in profits to private companies? And why are they doing it at the expense of the Bahamian taxpayers?
sheeprunner12 4 years, 1 month ago
The black political establishment are as entrenched now as the white Bay Street Boys were 60 years ago …….. what's different today????
Only that the black political bosses are heaping on taxes to stay in power
ThisIsOurs 4 years, 1 month ago
I've come to the conclusion that every government that gets in power immediately starts looking for parts of the country they can sell off. Sometimes to add to the coffers and sometimes to line individual pockets. Pretty soon the whole country will be gone... Some day The Bahamas could be rebranded as Jimmy's Island Getaway. Don't think it can't happen look at how the Chinese and Royal Caribbean went about surreptitiously buying individual parcels of land to end up with acres of property
BONEFISH 4 years, 1 month ago
Age has nothing to do with leadership in politics.Bahamians like to think so.Sir Winston Churchill became prime minister of Great Britain at the age of 65. Both major political parties in the Bahamas are hardly democratic.They only have national conventions when it suits the party insiders.They strongly oppose any attempt to have a strong local government.They are so far from the Westminister system of government.
sheeprunner12 4 years, 1 month ago
Agreed ……. the Nassau political oligarchy has colonized the rest of the Out Islands
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