Dear Editor,
It looks like some radical Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) followers are upset with Prime Minister Perry Christie for not cleansing the public service of some Free National Movement (FNM) supporters. The hue and cry of these persons is that while the PLP is in power, FNMs really run the government. However, of the 20-plus ministers in Christie's Cabinet, not one is an FNM. All of the parliamentary secretaries are PLPs, to the best of my knowledge. To be sure, the PLP has a very firm grip on power.
PLPs need not worry about that. As for the permanent secretaries, I don't think anyone is in the position to say with dogmatic certainty which political party all of them support. And even if any of them just happen to support the FNM, why should that stop them from working in the civil service? As long as they carry out their duties as paid professionals, they should be allowed to stay on the job. Every law-abiding Bahamian has a right to earn a honest living in this country. When I last checked, FNMs pay taxes also. Bahamians who are caught up in this partisan politics carry on like C. S. Lewis' fictitious character Screwtape.
Screwtape is a senior demon in Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters", who advises his nephew Wormwood on how to destroy their opponents. This country belongs to all of us, not just PLPs. I think the time has come for Bahamians to take politics out of the gutter. We need to stop persecuting our political foes when the party we support is in high office. If there are FNMs still in strategic positions in the Christie administration, then this is a testament of his (Christie) political maturity. I applaud the prime minister for this. To be sure, Christie must lead his party and this nation.
Sometimes I wonder if some PLPs forget that the leader of their political organization is also the leader of the entire nation, and not just their political party. Christie cannot allow the parochial supporters in his party to force him to do anything to harm innocent Bahamians who don't support the PLP. I am glad that Christie has decided to take the moral high ground by not allowing his party supporters to lure him into engaging in petty political tit-for-tats with FNMs.
Like I said before, Christie is the prime minister of all Bahamians, whether they are PLPs or FNMs or supporters of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA). If there are any FNMs in the civil service who are attempting to sabotage the governing party, they should get their pink slips immediately. If you work for the state you should give an honest day's work for an honest day's pay. FNMs attempting to frustrate the Christie regime in order to win in 2017 will only make the FNM party look bad.
FNMs must come to terms with the fact that Christie is now the prime minister of The Bahamas. Moreover, the rumors that FNMs in the civil service led Christie to lose the 2007 general election are unfounded. Where is the proof for this? I believe the then PLP government shot itself in the foot with the many internal issues that hounded it right up to Election Day in 2007. If anything, several ministers in the Christie regime hurt their leader's chances of winning in 2007, not FNM civil servants. Why have we forgotten this? PLPs should be happy that their party is in government. But that position of power comes with a moral responsibility.
How the PLP uses this authoritative power might very well determine its political fate in the year 2017, God willing. PLPs and FNMs must also remember that today's electorate is radically different from the electorate of the 1970s and 1980s. They are not going to put up with foolishness from any government. I encourage the prime minister to continue his good work in governing the nation. I would also like to encourage him to continue ignoring the cries of those within his party who are calling on him to victimize FNMs in the civil service. - Kevin Evans
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