Certain comments made recently by Holy Cross MP Sidney Stubbs resurrecting allegations made about the late former prime minister, Sir Lynden Pindling, have irritated and annoyed some PLPs who feel his statements were out of place, and out of order.
While appearing on the Love 97 programme “Issues of The Day”, on Thursday, Mr. Stubbs said some Bahamian politicians like Sir Lynden were able to overcome greater degrees of difficulties than he ever has and he pointed to accusations made against Sir Lynden in the 1980s at the height of the drug trafficking era.
But PLP Chairman Raynard Rigby said the comparison was unfair.
“Lynden Pindling went through commissions of inquiry. I was never accused of cohabitating with drug dealers or doing this or doing that. I was never accused of selling a nation. I was never accused of doing this,” Mr. Stubbs said on the radio talk show.
Sir Lynden was the embattled leader of The Bahamas during the 1980s when allegations were made of the complicity on the part of certain individuals of the government in drug trafficking through the country.
While Sir Lynden himself was not accused of any wrongdoing, a commission of inquiry found that many Bahamians both in the civil service and in the private sector benefited directly from drug traffickers during that period.
Mr. Rigby told The Bahama Journal he does not think that these kinds of allegations should be unearthed at this time.
“I certainly saw the comments and I would have thought that as a country we would have been beyond trying to resurrect those days in our political past where we know that Sir Lynden was unjustly criticized and unjustly condemned by people in the media, by a cross section of the Bahamian population, and so I really thought that that comparison was most unfair,” he said.
“It is unfortunate, but be that as it may heﾒs entitled to his view and I certainly have a different view from his. My view is that Sir Lyndenﾒs legacy is one that speaks to a leader in the times of our country when much was done to move The Bahamas in a positive direction.”
The partyﾒs chairman added, “I think that persons from all political divides in an objective analysis of our past would say that Sir Lynden proved himself to be a true patriot of The Bahamas and one who was very much at the forefront of all the major advancements of a modern Bahamas and so there is no doubt in my mind that he is fitting of praise for what heﾒs done.”
Asked whether he was disappointed or concerned that one of the PLPﾒs own had resurrected the allegations against Sir Lynden to make a point about forgiveness, Mr. Rigby responded, “I donﾒt think itﾒs a question of concern. Itﾒs probably more so looking at the political realities of where we are and finding the appropriate circumstances to make a case and Iﾒm not sure that bringing Sir Lynden into the mix makes a case or makes a compelling argument either way.”
Mr. Stubbs also insisted that despite the controversies that have plagued his time as a member of parliament ﾖ including the Korean boat scandal, firings at BAIC and his bankruptcy debacle ﾖ he had picked up support “across the board” in Holy Cross.
On Friday, one of the callers into the talk show, former FNM Minister Algernon Allen, told Mr. Stubbs that there was a general consensus that he would hurt his partyﾒs chances of victory at the polls if he ran in Holy Cross again.
Asked whether he agreed with this assessment, Mr. Rigby said, “I think thatﾒs probably a premature question for me to answer at this stage because right now I am a member of the partyﾒs candidatesﾒ committee and for me to comment on that question would be most unfair to the process.”
In some party circles, however, some PLPs were saying that Mr. Stubbs hanged himself when he compared his past troubles to those of Sir Lynden.
The legacy of the late former prime minister was highlighted in July when Nassau International Airport was renamed in his honour.
“As the nationﾒs longest serving prime minister, to date, Sir Lyndenﾒs legacy has already been enshrined in the history of our nation and his place as one of the greatest pioneers in the modern history of The Bahamas is secured,” said Prime Minister Perry Christie in a statement at the time.
But not everyone agreed with the decision to rename the airport in Sir Lyndenﾒs honour.
Former diplomat and politician and well-respected journalist Sir Arthur Foulkes was one of them.
Sir Arthur said there was much the Pindling Administration could have done to fight drug smuggling in the 1980s, but failed to do so.
“It is true, maybe we would never eradicate this business,” he said, “but if you look at the Commission of Inquiry report, anybody reading [that] would have to conclude that the Government of The Bahamas at that time was lax in dealing with this and in many cases complicit, and that is the problem.”
Sir Arthur added that Sir Lynden himself was cast in a bad light internationally during the height of the drug era. Itﾒs why, he said, The Bahamas should try to “downplay the negative”.
“We should not tempt [the foreign writers] to go back and explore the negative side of our recent history,” he said. “The truth of the matter is that we have to worry about what the outside world thinks of us.”
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
