Former Prime Minister Perry Christie yesterday denied rumors that he intends to run in the next general election. Christie said his focus is on supporting the current leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). “If Perry Christie was running, you would know,” Christie said following an address to students at Mount Carmel Preparatory Academy. “If Perry Christie ever runs again, you will know.” He added, “Right now, I am in retirement. “I am supporting my leader, Philip Brave Davis.

Disinterest in the country’s major political parties, frustration over being taken for granted and discouragement due to societal norms that contribute to the country’s brain drain are but some of the impassioned and considered sentiments expressed by Bahamian university students and graduates during several days of interviews with Perspective. We visited the post-Dorian interim campus of the University of The Bahamas (UB) in Freeport, Grand Bahama, and spoke with UB students and university graduates on New Providence and abroad on their views about the state of the country, its current political prospects, roadblocks to their career goals and youth-based issues they feel need greater attention.

Progressive Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis yesterday said he could not commit his party to prioritising the issue of marital rape if it takes office in 2022. Mr Davis said while any administration led by him would “address” the issue, there would be “a number of policy initiatives” that would need to be prioritised should the PLP win the next general election. He was asked by The Tribune whether the party could commit to prioritising the criminalisation of marital rape once in government. “Let me just say this: there are a number of policy initiatives that we as a government when we are elected which we will, will have to prioritise,” Mr Davis said during his monthly press conference at PLP headquarters yesterday.

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party deputy leader Chester Cooper said while he supports the ban on single-use plastics, he believes the government should have implemented a longer transition period. This would have ensured the public was properly educated on the importance of the prohibition. Speaking to reporters during a PLP walkabout on East Street, Mr Cooper said the party supports “any initiative that’s positive for the environment”. Still, he insisted the government could have done a “better job” in implementing the ban. “Certainly plastics and Styrofoam have caused a lot of issues in our waters and the general environment of our country. We are a country reliant on the water and marine resources and therefore we must do all we can to protect what God has given us. “I thought there ought to be a broader timeframe for educating the public to explain to the public why it’s good for the country, why it’s good for the environment, why it’s good for our health and allow there to be a proper transition period.”