Dear Editor,
I am responding to the Minnisite ghostwriter hiding behind the pseudonym The Mackey Street Man.
The Mackey Street Man was being disingenuous when he made the ludicrous proposal for the Free National Movement (FNM) to consider dumping current leader Michael Pintard for either Dr. Hubert Minnis or Hubert Ingraham.
His suggestion that the FNM should also consider accommodating former Democratic National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney in Long Island, in the event that current MP Adrian Gibson resigns, was disingenuous at best.
The Mackey Street Man only dropped the names of Ingraham and McCartney to disguise his Minnis homerism. But for the sake of argument, why would the FNM re-elect the 75-year-old Ingraham, who will be 76 this coming August and 79 in September 2026, assuming an election is held at the constitutionally allotted five years?
Moreover, why would Pintard endorse a McCartney nomination in Long Island when he knows the potential for the former Bamboo Town MP and prime minister aspirant to openly mount a challenge for his leadership position within the FNM?
Remember, McCartney resigned as state minister of immigration in the final Ingraham government in 2010 and from the FNM in 2011, over differences he had with the FNM hierarchy.
The formation of the DNA in 2011 would sound the death knell of the FNM in the 2012 general election, as McCartney’s fledgling political party gained 13,000 votes — votes the FNM might have gotten had the DNA not been in existence.
McCartney and the DNA proudly played the role of spoilers. I am convinced that the DNA is the main reason for the FNM election loss in 2012.
If McCartney would dare to be a thorn in the side of the outspoken Ingraham, who had no qualms firing insubordinate Cabinet ministers, what is there to suggest that he would obediently submit to Pintard?
Moreover, the mere presence of Ingraham within the FNM in frontline politics would present an awkward situation for Pintard, who first ran in 1997 under the former FNM leader and prime minister.
It is difficult imagining a scenario in which Ingraham is an underling to Pintard.
Pintard already has his hands full dealing with the Minnis camp that refuses to accept his leadership.
Why should he create more drama within the FNM?
Pintard already faces an unprecedented issue in which it would appear that the Killarney MP is running another FNM within the FNM.
The one criticism that The Mackey Street Man and others from the Minnis camp continue to levy against the FNM leader is that he has failed to resonate with voters, when they’re aware that The Bahamas is just 16 months removed from the 2021 general election, with 44 months to go.
In a word, we are smack dab in the midst of the political off-season when voter interest is typically low.
The Mackey Street Man and others of his ilk are simply being irrational.
There’s an African proverb that says that two bulls cannot live in the same kraal.
Regarding the FNM and The Mackey Street Man’s ill-advised suggestion, we can say that three bulls cannot live in the same FNM kraal.
— Kevin Evans
