Dear Editor,

Would you allow me to brand as irrelevant whether I am of the opinion that OAT "Tommy" Turnquest, former leader of The Free National Movement, was capable of leading this country or not? What is relevant, however, is that Tommy represented a new generation of political leaders in The Bahamas.
I happen to believe that that was one of the prevalent reasons why the FNM was rejected by the electorate in our 2002 general election. Tommy was viewed as still a child by a certain constituency of people scattered all over this country. And I am not sure if there is anything that he would be able to do about such a perception, except wait on the passage of time.
But what the populace would be able to do now is to engage themselves in an introspective analysis of their own lives. For example, are you an adult, perhaps with your own children, your own home, living your own independent life and your parents and others of their generation still perceive you to be a child? If this is true, then I contend that it would have been highly unlikely that your parent's generation would have sanctioned promoting Tommy Turnquest to leader of the country. What might exacerbate the problem would be if those of Tommy's generation perceived themselves as their parents perceived them.
To me, Tommy was the new generation's pioneer in The Bahamas. And I admire the fact that in the face of incessant criticism of his leadership capabilities, he was moving forward without looking back. Even though he did not reach the ultimate goal of becoming prime minister of The Bahamas, at least he paved the way for others to follow in his footsteps. The new generation will have its representative in the top position in this country within the years to come.

- Marvin G. Lightbourn

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