Lester Turnquest, a former FNM MP, has decided to roll with Prime Minister Perry Christie and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP).
Turnquest told National Review the Free National Movement is not ready to govern.
"I think that the future may bode well for good tidings for the FNM, but the truth of the matter is that any opposition party needs to convey to the voters that they are able to grasp the reins of government and govern successfully," he said. "I think one of the challenges the opposition has, as a taxi driver and others have pointed out to me, is the constant fighting, explosions every couple of weeks.
"Particularly in view of the economic challenges, an opposition party needs to convince the electorate it's more than a roll of the dice to vote for them.
"I think any dispassionate observer would say that any opposition party that wishes to become the government needs to convince the voters that they are an alternative government, needs to present a cogent and easily discernable blueprint for its time in office.
"Perhaps in time, and maybe before the election, the opposition would be able to position itself to do that and in so doing would stand a better chance of being successful, but they do have work to do."
Turnquest was among a group of former FNMs who joined Christie on stage at the climax of the PLP's convention at Melia Nassau Beach Resort last Thursday night.
After he was contacted by The Nassau Guardian, he explained that he was impressed by the way Christie treats his children, as that speaks to his character.
"One of the ways that I judge is not by his wealth or by his success with the fairer sex. I judge a man by how he treats his children, and knowing the prime minister's devotion to his children gave me the measure of Prime Minister Christie," Turnquest said.
"So it was a short step to being able to understand some of the things that he is pushing for. None of us, me, nor Prime Minister Christie or anyone else, is a perfect individual."
He also expressed similar concerns raised by Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell at the PLP convention that Save The Bays is attempting to destabilize the Christie administration.
The environmental group has repeatedly denied that claim first raised in the House of Assembly last year by Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald.
"As a Bahamian, I am offended by what I perceive to be the attempt by wealthy foreign interests to undermine Mr. Christie's government," Turnquest said.
"We as Bahamians are perfectly entitled to change a government, install a government etc., but I have a problem with Bahamians being funded by foreign interests under the guise of an environmental committee to undermine the government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
"Whatever one may think of the Progressive Liberal Party, or whatever one may think about Mr. Christie, Mr. Christie did not seize power at the point of a gun. And so in the face of an alliance of foreign interests with disloyal persons, when they try to do everything to bring down a government that Bahamians voted for, then my inclination is to seek to assist the prime minister in staying where he is, because Bahamians put him in there, not foreigners."
He added: "When one goes to the polls, one votes depending on certain issues etc. and you could vote for whatever government you want, whatever political party, whether it's the DNA or the FNM or many other splinter groups that are around. But while that government is in power, I think we are all obliged to seek to ensure their success, because if they succeed, Bahamians succeed."
There is another reason Turnquest gave for supporting Christie.
Christie has been patting himself on the back at every turn for his negotiation of the new Baha Mar deal.
The Hong Kong-based conglomerate Chow Tai Fook Enterprises has purchased the Cable Beach project, which was thrown into a tailspin when former developer Sarkis Izmirlian filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States year before last.
Turnquest believes Christie deserves applause for securing the best deal for Bahamians.
"Even I, at times on the Baha Mar situation, did not have faith that the payments to Bahamian creditors and staffers would have been affected," he said.
"He stayed the course and I admired that in him. The truth of the matter is that in many liquidations, creditors, staffers, journeymen, service personal, service companies, will only get pennies on the dollar of what they are owed, and that was not the case in this particular case.
"Persons got almost all of what they were owed, and that is a tremendous accomplishment."
On this point, we reminded Turnquest that it was eventually revealed (through a leaked email) that the government agreed to value-added tax exemption for the project as a tradeoff for the $100 million payout.
Turnquest insisted: "It may have been a tradeoff, but the positive was that Bahamian business persons and former employees did receive payments."
He also said he was bothered by efforts in some quarters to "demonize" Chinese investors in The Bahamas.
"The truth of the matter is, I thought that was unfair because the United States' biggest creditor is China. China's influence is on the upswing. It is now the largest exporter in the world. Its currency has now been listed by international agencies as a reserve currency, so why this attempt to demonize investors?" he asked.
"Every country around the world would wish to have investors, foreign or domestic, in their economy, and so I felt that, that was unfair. I felt that there were persons who would think themselves otherwise loyal who were almost wishing for a crop failure under this particular government."
Turnquest added that the prime minister's determination to introduce National Health Insurance (NHI) also attracted him to the PLP.
"I think that we ought to press toward a system where a poor person doesn't die just because they are poor," he told us.
"And so, I understand the challenges. I understand the tremendous mountain that must be climbed to implement NHI, but if no effort is made to do it you would never, ever get there."

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