Former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) MP Philip Galanis might have been shy to name the current PLP MPs he thinks should not be re-nominated, but another former MP, George Smith, revealed his initial list yesterday.
“For reasons that Alfred Gray has so embarrassed the party on a number of occasions, I include him in that,” said Smith, referring to the MICAL MP.
Earlier this year, Gray faced a firestorm after he was accused of interfering in a judicial matter in Mayaguana. While the Office of the Attorney General determined Gray did not break the law when he called the Mayaguana island administrator in reference to a convict, some political observers concluded that the controversy was damaging for Gray and the PLP.
Continuing his list, Smith said, “In terms of complete and absolute ineffectiveness as a member of Parliament, Picewell Forbes in South Andros; Perry Gomez in North Andros; Anthony Moss in Exuma; Renward Wells in Bamboo Town; Danny Johnson in Carmichael and Cleola Hamilton in South Beach [should not be renominated].”
“I have come up with some names and this isn’t the entire list, and I do it purely because I am satisfied that the country needs its best and brightest talent,” Smith told The Nassau Guardian.
“The problems facing our country require that both principal parties should demand that the very best in the organization come to the fore, and that means that individuals in the organizations have got to put the well being of the country and the organization they belong to above their own private ambitions and egos and none of this is intended to display my lack of regard for them as individuals because they are all very fine folks.”
Smith added, “We need to find replacement in these cases who can make a meaningful contribution to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas in these very trying times.”
Smith was asked whether he thinks Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage should be a part of another PLP government if the party is reelected.
“I think Bernard Nottage is an excellent individual, a man of tremendous ability,” he said.
“I have high personal regard for him. I think it is fairly obvious that he wouldn’t wish to pursue after this term, and he has been given the most daunting task of all ministers in the government today, and probably has tried to combat crime, but we’re trying to solve crime by breaking the back of crime, but we ought to be in society about building the kind of society where there is peace and contentment so that people will no resort to criminal activity.”
Smith said arresting criminals is not enough to address the problem as certain conditions are breeding new criminals all the time. Smith also said that in the last three general elections “in many instances”, the PLP failed to pick good candidates.
On Thursday, Galanis, while appearing on the Star FM talk show “Jeffrey” with Jeff Lloyd, said several Cabinet ministers and PLP members of Parliament are “miserable and lousy” and should not be re-nominated as candidates for the next general election.
“Many of [them] in my opinion are not providing solutions to the challenges that are facing this country today,” he said.
“Many of [them] … are not visiting their constituents and are out of touch with what’s going on and are disconnected.”
Smith was also asked whether he thinks Prime Minister Perry Christie should lead the party into the next election.
“I believe the party should go into a convention and concentrate more on the problems that the country faces and the PLP’s responsibility to the country as the oldest political party in this country whose core values called on PLPs to deal with the very problems we are facing today, crime, low education, desire for better health care. These were issues the PLP was established to deal with,” he responded, saying the decision was for Christie and the PLP to make.
Letter
Several of the names Smith highlighted on his list of people who should not be nominated were also included in a letter to Christie ahead of the last general election. The 2011 letter was written by Smith, former PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby and Galanis, who coordinated the PLP’s failed 2007 reelection bid. They suggested that the party would lose the 2012 election if it ratified Shane Gibson (Golden Gates); Vincent Peet (North Andros and the Berry Islands); Obie Wilchcombe (West End and Bimini) and V. Alfred Gray (MICAL). They also expressed concerns that running Anthony Moss (Exuma); Picewell Forbes (South Andros); Leslie Miller (Blue Hills) and Arnold Forbes (Mount Moriah) may prove problematic for the party.
The authors of the letter suggested some of those men have been embroiled in controversies that would reflect badly on the party during the campaign, and some were not the best candidates the party could field. For example, they suggested that Forbes and Moss had lost considerable support in heir constituencies. All of those candidates, except Peet, were nominated by the PLP.
Yesterday, Smith insisted, “We failed to pick candidates in the last elections for the right reasons in many instances.”
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