Following Prime Minister Perry Christie's implication that Official Opposition Leader Loretta Butler-Turner is on the "wrong side" of politics and should join the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), Butler-Turner said she has no intention of joining the PLP because the party has lost focus and has become the status quo.
"Without question let me state emphatically that I have no intention of joining the PLP," Butler-Turner told The Nassau Guardian yesterday.
"The PLP, in my estimation, clearly has not delivered on the mandate that they promised the Bahamian people.
"They have lost a sense of this commitment of service to the people that have elected them.
"And the bold moves that I've been anticipating and talking about for the past three weeks, they're finally coming together.
"But even if I stand alone, I will remain that voice, that advocate, that person that is going to go against what we have today.
"Essentially, that's the PLP and to a lesser extent now, that's the Free National Movement (FNM).
"We need a change.
"People are moving away from the status quo because the status quo has failed the Bahamian people."
While addressing a crowd at the Southern Recreation Grounds following the 50th Majority Rule Day march, Christie said in a recent conversation with Butler-Turner, he told her that she is on the "wrong side" of the political fence.
"I said to Loretta Butler, 'Child, you are on the wrong side,'" he said.
"I said I just looked at the statistics and I see your daddy, your grandaddy from 1938 was running, your uncle or granduncle Joe was running, your daddy, your other uncle Milo Butler Jr. was running.
"They're the Butlers.
"Milo and his sons all made this enduring commitment of courage and so families like that, today I salute them all."
Butler-Turner said Christie's comments show that he understands the contribution her family has made to Bahamian politics, however, she remains uninterested in siding with the PLP despite her family's history.
"On Monday at Parliament, apparently the prime minister was going over some past statistics from the 1950s and came across the information just prior to the PLP becoming the government where my grandfather and four of his sons had actually ran on behalf of the PLP ticket and how historically they had aligned themselves with the PLP," she said.
"But I found it amusing and, I guess, very uplifting, to know that he understands the impact that the Butler family has had on the political landscape of The Bahamas.
"But I think what was lost on the prime minister, and I think maybe the wider public, is this, Sir Milo Butler was obviously a man who did not remain satisfied with the status quo and that is why in the late 1930s, even prior to the existence of national political parties, he was out there in an attempt to change the status quo, which is what we had looked at for this whole majority rule thing about being ruled by a small merchant class."
Butler-Turner said her family's message was simply about standing up and fighting for the rights of everyday people, something the PLP no longer does.
"...I think the bigger picture to look at is my grandfather was not a conformist, he was not satisfied to accept the status quo," she said.
"You know, interestingly enough, many people do not know this, but growing up in my grandfather's shadows, I lived very closely with him and his favorite song outside of church hymns was 'Don't Fence in Me In'.
"People who know him and people who would've done documentaries or autobiographies on him would know that.
"It wasn't just a favorite song but the words meant so much to him.
"And so as I look at my life today and people ask me if I am joining the PLP, quite frankly, the story I take from my grandfather's life is that one has got to appreciate that the status quo is not always the best answer.
"Courage, being able to stand, to go against the tide, that is my position even with the party that I have aligned myself with (the FNM).
"You see our separation at this stage.
"What drives the Butler ambition or courage is the fact that we need to do more for our people.
"When the status quo becomes complacent and people become secondary, that is why I cannot align myself or join the PLP.
"That is why we need to move forward in this election season to present something new, something different, to ensure the Bahamian people that their interests are at least addressed and they are given the choice for something other than the status quo."

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian