That cryptic reference was quickly understood by any number of old timers. They are the ones who vividly recall the heady days of the old PLP, when crime, corruption and sleaze threatened to undo and besmirch the reputations of so very many PLPs and their raft of hangers-on. Some of these men and women were well known for parlaying their party connections into sizeable nest eggs. Some were ‘fortunate’ enough to build lucrative businesses, live high on the hog, and otherwise flaunt their nouveau riche life styles.
Anyone interested in the finer details of this story can flesh out their knowledge by reading the contents of two commissions of inquiry, summoned to look into the connection between certain PLP operatives, the government of the day and a motley assortment of gangsters and con men.
While the situation today is far from what used to happen in the seventies and eighties, when the likes of Carlos ‘Joe Lehder’ were riding high, the so-called ‘New’ PLP had better watch out. Many people are watching to see how long it will take the Prime Minister to realize that his administration is being undermined by the perception that some key operatives and appointees are sleazy.
Whether the Prime Minister and his closest advisers realize it or not, their administration is engulfed in a mire of confusion. Even its most ardent supporters are hard-pressed to explain why a life long supporter of the Progressive Liberal Party, Edison Key, could reach a level of disgust deep enough for him to sever his links with it. Claiming that the Progressive Liberal Party was without direction or leadership, Key’s broadside seemed to be aimed directly at the Rt. Hon. Perry Christie, PLP party leader and Prime Minister of The Bahamas.
While we do not have a position now on the reasons behind Mr. Key’s decision, suffice it to say that we are concerned about some of the darker undercurrents associated with this unfortunate matter. Highest on that list would be persistent reports that there are any number of PLP operatives whose names are cropping up, with some regularity whenever any deals are going down. Among these people are known conmen, whose only claim to fame is that they are close to Mr. Christie, whatever that means. In this regard, they remind old timers of some of the tricks employed by some of the ‘boys’ in times past.
Purporting to speak for ‘The Chief,’ many of these crooked men and women cut deals and enriched themselves. Some of them flouted any number of laws, in their pell-mell search for rewards for their corrupt activities. That era is well known for its plethora of kickbacks, finder’s fees, dealerships and directorships.
Even now, the proceeds of some of these activities are coursing through the Bahamian body politic. This might explain the operations of any number of big time operatives who have surfaced in the aftermath of the Free National Movement’s melt down on May 2, 2002. This is apparently what was being said by the senior FNM politician who claimed that ‘the boys are back.’
Whether or not this is so is really all of our business. The public needs to know, sooner rather than later, whether the so-called ‘New’ PLP is only an updated version of the Old PLP. We remember well the assertion that the ‘Old’ PLP had allowed corruption to rock it to its very foundations.
Today since we are not privy to the inner workings of the self-styled ‘New’ PLP, we can only speculate about what we see and hear. No matter which way the matter is approached, the conclusion is unmistakable: the ‘New’ PLP is disappointing many of its sympathizers; confusing some of its stalwarts; and reducing its rank and file to blubbering incoherence.
Despite what some slicksters might say to the contrary, the PLP’s woes derive from its own actions. They are also directly linked to the yawning gap between what the PLP says about renewal, and the real facts on the ground. On a daily basis, there are very many Bahamians who vociferously and insistently condemn the Prime Ministers for allowing the ‘boys’ to come back from the oblivion to which they had been so rightly confined.
Editorial, The Bahama Journal
