COOPER’S TOWN, North Abaco — Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Dame Marguerite Pindling fired strong words at each other as the political campaigns entered a heated homestretch over the weekend.
Dame Marguerite, the widow of the first Bahamian prime minister, the late Sir Lynden Pindling, lashed out at Ingraham at a Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) rally on Friday night, accusing him of mistreating her and Sir Lynden after the PLP lost the government in 1992, and suggesting that he created so much stress for the “father of the nation” that it ultimately led to Sir Lynden’s illness.
But Ingraham shot back at FNM rallies on Saturday, saying Dame Marguerite is not his friend, and that she was just hurt after losing “the life of privilege she believed she is entitled to live”.
Speaking at Clifford Park, Dame Marguerite said she had to “set the record straight” after Ingraham played a clip of Sir Lynden Pindling’s 1997 farewell address to Parliament in which he referred to Ingraham as his “most illustrious protege thus far”.
Ingraham said, “…You know and I know, [that] Lady Pindling and me [are] no friends — never have been friends.”
“I understand how hurt she must feel at losing the life of privilege she believed she is entitled to live at the expense of the Bahamian people.
“Well power in this country belongs to the people and those of us like me and her, who are fortunate enough to get elected should never forget that — the power is yours, not ours.”
Ingraham said it is because of him and the Bahamian people that Dame Marguerite lost her position.
“We do not regret having done so one little bit,” he said. “It was time for them to go and we must together ensure that they never, ever come back.”
