Dear Editor,
Hubert Ingraham is putting together one hell of a campaign. At each event more and more people are showing up to support the Free National Movement (FNM). The wave of red is starting to scare the opposition parties.
The FNM's beach party at Montagu on Easter Monday was the largest beach party event I have seen in my four decades of life here in our beautiful Commonwealth of The Bahamas. I now think that he will beat Perry Christie and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and become a four-time champ! Actually, it might not even be that close.
Ingraham won his first term in office in 1992 when he beat the legendary Sir Lynden Pindling and his version of the PLP. Ingraham beat Sir Lynden again in 1997. He came back in 2007 and beat Christie. If he beats Christie again that would be his second non-consecutive back-to-back win at the polls. It would also mean that the FNM would have won four out of the last five general elections. We would clearly be the party of now.
Already Ingraham has surpassed Sir Lynden in something: he was able to come back. When Sir Lynden lost in 1992, he never again was able to convince the people that he should be prime minister. Ingraham has already done that. After stepping aside in 2002 he returned and won in 2007.
Sir Lynden ran the country for 25 years. If Ingraham wins he can extend his time as PM to up to 20 years. Sir Lynden's long time in office was common for independence leaders. People got very connected to the people who led them out of oppressive situations. For Ingraham, though, his connection with the people was not about independence and then riding the wave of momentum from it. He had to establish himself in the shadow of Sir Lynden. He had to prove he could lead and get things done. He had to prove he could clean up the mass corruption that existed in public office when he came to office. He had to prove he was strong enough to lead a group who were not used to winning. He had to pull the Bahamian economy out of the ditch.
In my opinion, if Ingraham wins this election, he and Sir Lynden are the Fathers of the Nation. If we had a Mount Rushmore, as the Americans do, those two should be up there. PLPs should realize that they picked the wrong man to lead the party after Sir Lynden left. Christie is not a leader of men. The whole country knows this and on May 7 he will be sent home for good. Now, he may not step down from the leadership of the PLP when he loses, but he will be gone as a potential leader of the country.
I expect this "red tsunami" to wash away the PLP. And that is a good thing. They need to change their whole leadership structure. They never listen when voters tell them something one time. We seem to have to vote them out twice for them to get the message. So Bahamas, let's send them a clear message in bright red on Election Day. We want "Papa", and that is that.
- A Papa supporter
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