"It is difficult to admit our mistakes but it may be equally disastrous to brave it out and not come face to face with them.

- Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield

The great nationalist and former Governor General Arthur Hanna enthused on several occasions that few sacrificed as much in the struggle for majority rule and racial and social equality than his friend Arthur Foulkes, whom Hanna reveres as a compatriot and brother.

Sir Arthur was in the vanguard against the oligarchic rule of the United Bahamian Party (UBP). He left a good job as a journalist at The Tribune to start Bahamian Times, which proved pivotal in arousing the consciousness of the black majority of their inherent dignity, and defeating minority rule and the pretense of inherent superiority. A young Foulkes even at times crossed swords with his distinguished mentor Sir Etienne Dupuch.

In his early teens Ivoine Ingraham would walk over to Bahamian Times. "I love Sir Arthur!" says the 64-year-old Ingraham, who remembers that when he had nothing at home to eat, that Foulkes and others at the newspaper would share their bread, sausage and cheese with him so that he would not go hungry. He saw Sir Arthur as a father figure and mentor, as someone involved in a great enterprise.

"Even when Sir Arthur didn't know, I was there listening and learning from him and those other men," Ingraham recalls.

The country also witnessed a profile in courage from Sir Arthur, who, after helping to secure majority rule, broke with Sir Lynden Pindling and the PLP at the height of their power. He paid dearly for following his conscience.

Some PLPs were vicious in their attempt to destroy Sir Arthur, the Dissident Eight and those who dared stand up for our fledgling democracy and stand against Pindling's cult of personality. Sir Arthur refused to bend or break.

For 25 years and at great personal sacrifice, Sir Arthur helped to build the Free National Movement and to entrench democracy in The Bahamas.

When the likes of Tennyson Wells, who connived with the PLP to defeat the FNM, seeks by innuendo or otherwise to depreciate the legacy of Sir Arthur, Bahamians see Wells for who he is: a self-absorbed egotistical blowhard.

Contrast
In contrast to Sir Arthur, a man of tremendous humility, Wells is a self-aggrandizing oligarch and bore who needs to brag about the money he has given to the FNM. It is telling how much Wells denominates his self-worth in terms of money rather than in the currency of values and principles. He has spent a lifetime cashing in.

That Wells and FNM Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis are such close allies reflects poorly on both and is reminiscent of a dark period in the FNM's history. Disturbingly, former FNM Cabinet minister C.A. Smith is a part of this unholy alliance.

That a man of Smith's stature is supporting a leader who is grossly incompetent, undemocratic, dreadfully unprepared to be prime minister, and who is vindictive as well, is deeply troubling. It diminishes Smith and his standing in the country.

In his vitriolic, bizarre and mindless attack on Sir Arthur in a letter to the editor, Smith confirmed in spades the judgement of this writer and many others as to why he so strongly and obsequiously supports a man like Minnis.

In an approximately 2,000-word screed he dramatically made this writer's case, albeit in many more than the few words penned on him by this writer. He indicted himself in his own highly irrational defense.

Smith has done himself considerable reputational damage in being duped and used by others to launch an attack on Sir Arthur, a man revered and beloved by FNMs and many other Bahamians. Why have some in Minnis' camp sunk so low?

It is a telling and damning revelation, a reactionary response by desperate individuals, including the Hubert Ingraham-haters, who have rallied around Minnis for their political life and to satisfy lifelong political grievances.

One hopes that Smith becomes more circumspect about those who may be using him to suit their ends and who will long-term abandon him, especially now that he has done them and him considerable damage. He has allowed lesser men to fill his mind with foolishness, mistruth and factual errors.

Smith is a better man than this. He has contributed much to The Bahamas, for which FNMs and Bahamians are grateful, including this writer. His good legacy deserves to be protected as does that of Sir Arthur.

Those who would publicly champion the contributions of Sir Arthur, but who would privately consort to sully his reputation, are shameful. It does not take a stretch of the imagination to know who these men are, grabbing for power, convulsed by pettiness and vengeful thinking.

Silence
Why hasn't Minnis come out and publicly rebuked Smith for his vitriol against Sir Arthur? Minnis' silence is telling and damning. Does he abide Smith's attack on Sir Arthur?

There are deeply disturbing reports that some are so desperate that they are digging into the private lives of the six MPs opposed to Minnis.

Those who would seek to use private medical records and other means to destroy their opponents are dangerous lowlifes who should never have access to government power. FNMs must unite to stop such individuals before it is too late.

If Smith was advised not to send the letter attacking Sir Arthur, and did so anyway, it speaks to a certain belligerence and wholesale collapse of judgment by him.

It appears to be this same lack of judgment that has led Smith to so breathlessly support Minnis and to say such nonsensical and incoherent things about some of the recent referendum questions, as chronicled in this journal.

Smith's right to speak is not being questioned. It is his spectacularly poor judgment that is being questioned. His letter of apology to Sir Arthur seemed more driven by the need to protect himself and by legal considerations rather than by friendship and by the high regard in which he claims to hold Sir Arthur.

Smith's comments and those of many others are drenched in blazing hypocrisy. Democratic leaders are not supposed to be dictators. It is right of those opposed to a leader to seek to replace that individual.

Indeed it is their duty to do so if they feel that a leader is doing immense harm, which Minnis has demonstrated in spectacular form. Hypocritically, the same C.A. Smith, who worked to remove Tommy Turnquest as FNM leader, cries that others are trying to remove Minnis.

The epitaph on Smith's tombstone will be written by Smith and the judgment of history. But contrary to his snide and lowbrow comments, chiseled on the memorial for Arthur A. Foulkes will be: National Hero, Father of the Nation, Friend of Justice and Humanity. It will further read: beloved father, friend and mentor.

Sir Arthur and his colleagues fought mightily against the lack of collegiality and undemocratic spirit within the PLP, leading to the founding of the FNM.

The break-up of the FNM was also the result of non-collegiality and the use of goon tactics and undemocratic measures to silence debate and dissent within the party. Wells played a certain role in a dark period in the party. He is now back advising Minnis. They are extinguishing the torch.

Secretive
Hubert Minnis is a secretive, non-collegial, highly undemocratic leader who has consistently undermined his fellow MPs. He has abused the democratic and constitutional process in the FNM.

The notion that Minnis is leading a movement toward a new FNM is utterly ridiculous. What he is leading is a band of individuals who greedily want power for their own ends, to give vent to petty grievances and to demonstrate to the country that they are large and in charge.

Minnis and his allies represent a dark past, not a bright future!

Minnis has no vision for the country. His assault on democracy aids a singular goal: an existential struggle to prove to himself and to The Bahamas his self-worth. Because this is an existential fight about him and not the country, he will destroy the FNM and do great harm to the country in order to satisfy his wounded and insecure ego.

When six of his colleagues voiced no confidence in him, Minnis should have resigned. It is the convention in parliamentary democracies that when a majority of MPs voice no confidence in their leader, that individual should resign. Were Hubert Ingraham in such a predicament he would have resigned as leader.

But Minnis has little respect for democratic practices. He is dictatorial, an autocrat, who, if allowed to become prime minister, would plunge the country into a nightmare, undermining democratic conventions to satiate his lust for power. Minnis is reminiscent of a dark past.

On September 24, 1976, Dr. Godfrey Pinder, who was the hand-picked FNM candidate for Cooper's Town, announced his resignation from the party, citing the leadership's attempt to collect a group of yes-men and the party's drift into dictatorship.

Five days later on the 29th, six of the party's seven MPs supported by three of the party's four senators and a number of council members publicly announced their withdrawal of confidence and support for Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield as FNM leader.

After being advised of the parliamentary members' withdrawal of support, Sir Cecil noted that he would have to resign. But he quickly abandoned this position and claimed that a majority of the council wanted him as leader, and that, therefore, "Leader I will be."

Unable to abide Sir Cecil's "my way or the highway" attitude, much of the core of the FNM left, forming the Bahamian Democratic Party (BDP). The 1977 results were disastrous for the opposition. The BDP faction became the official opposition.

The FNM faction under the banner of the Free National Movement, led by Sir Cecil, lost a stunning 22 deposits. Had the BDP contested the two seats in Grand Bahama that the FNM faction won, the latter would probably have been wiped out in the House of Assembly.

After the 1977 imbroglio, several years of reunification talks led to a reconstituted party. In a meeting at his home, Sir Cecil stepped aside from leadership in favor of Sir Kendal Isaacs.

The great Sir Cecil stepped aside for the good of the FNM and the country. Hubert Minnis does not possess such greatness. He will not step aside. He will have to be removed with dispatch. Only then will the FNM restore its greatness and its purpose, rekindling the hope and philosophy symbolized by the torch.

o frontporchguardian@gmail.com, www.bahamapundit.com.

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