Former Free National Movement (FNM) Senator John Bostwick, who is one of the founding members of the newly established political party The People's Movement (TPM), said he hopes the party doesn't stray from its central focus as a voice for the community now that it has a political arm, adding that he may run as an independent candidate in the next general election.

Also known as the Gatekeepers, TPM announced in a statement released Thursday that more than 800 of its members voted in favor of the organization offering candidates for the 2017 general election.

"You don't want to say that this is a political entity, period. That cannot be the outcome of what is going on now, it's not my intended outcome," Bostwick said in an interview with The Nassau Guardian on Friday.

"So that this good work, social work, can continue untainted. Let's not get overly tied up into the fact that it has a political arm.

"I think that most people who are involved in the political arm feel the need for a political arm because there is such a great level of frustration with the present political status quo."

Bostwick, who grabbed headlines in 2014 when he resigned as an FNM senator prior to an ammunition possession conviction, said while he supports the formation of the group's political arm, he will not commit to seeking to run for the party at this time.

"My political involvement is still very much as a nationalist. I have said that I intend to offer myself and I do. And at the present time I'm not supporting any of the major political parties," he said.

"I have committed myself to nationalism and if that means I have to stand independent then I will do that until I can be convinced that there is a grouping of persons whose real motives are fully and truly the development of the country on behalf of the Bahamian people and nothing else."

The acting chairman of the Gatekeepers is radio talk show host Steve McKinney.

The party intends to hold a convention in December when members would be able to vote for who they want to represent them.

Bostwick said because the intention behind the creation of the Gatekeepers was not originally to form a political party, the organization is starting from scratch as it builds its political arm.

"There are persons involved in looking at the creation of a structure of a party. People have been looking at that for some time. It is something that has to be built from the ground up," he said.

"We determined because of the broad nature of the group, because of people who are pastors from various denominations - some of whom can't offer themselves in a certain way; because of the fact that even in the social sense there are people who are at the front of other organizations and charitable associations that aren't political, means that they can't [participate] in anything political."

The Gatekeepers said in its statement that it is "a bona fide political movement forged by the people, of the people, for the people".

Bostwick said he expects success for TPM if it stays true to its values.

"There's the overarching purpose of gathering, which remains, and that for me is my central focus, which is the advancement of social and economic concerns and opportunities," he said.

"That was the initial focus of the Gatekeepers, The People's Movement. To create an awareness, an awakening, a gathering [and] a meeting spot for persons who are of like minds who felt a call to come together to move the country forward."

Paige McCartney, Guardian Staff Reporter

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian