By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

AS SPECULATION mounts over who could emerge as the next leader of the Progressive Liberal Party, Prime Minister Perry Christie said he is in the process of mulling over who will succeed him as party leader.

However, he added that the ultimate decision on whether he remains leader of the PLP lies with his party.

“I am trying my best to look and see who will take my place,” Mr Christie briefly remarked yesterday morning during a speech to hundreds of children who gathered for the opening of the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s summer youth camp.

And while he gave no clear indication on his future, Mr Christie, during an interview that aired on ZNS last night, said he still has the “energy and the ability to continue with new ideas.”

“Everyone is saying that this is the time when I have to indicate what I want to do,” Mr Christie told ZNS last night.

He added: “We have a deep bench and the one thing that I am satisfied with is that there are any number of persons with the capacity to replace me and continue effectively in the governance of our country.”

“At the end of the day the decision will be one made by the PLP family and one made by me. I would only want to stay there period, full stop, if it was with the full support of colleagues because I am a part of them and that means I am a part of their future as well. “We don’t have to be acrimonious and adversarial in this, we have to be very calm and considered and take into consideration the best interests of the people of the country.”

Of those questioning his future, he said: “Whether they like me or they don’t like me, if they think I should go, if they think I should stay, tell them that decision will be made and it will be made collectively by the Progressive Liberal Party, functioning as the party that it is today and I have no doubt whatsoever that the decision will be the right decision.”

This comes as Deputy Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe have both publicly stated they are ready to lead the party, if a vacancy becomes available.

Both men have said their actions will depend on if Mr Christie offers himself for re-election.

Party insiders have also named Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell and Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald as possible contenders for the PLP’s leadership.

While in opposition, Mr Christie indicated that he would consider stepping down as party leader mid-term and name a successor. However, he later said he intended to serve a full term if elected as prime minister in 2012.

In January, during a televised interview with State of Affairs, Mr Christie, 71, said it would take a “compelling, tangible” reason for him to lead his party into the next general election.