By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Progressive Liberal Party Cabinet minister George Smith yesterday said he is considering a run as an independent candidate for the Exuma constituency if his party does not see him as a viable option for the 2017 general election.

Mr Smith, a former Exuma MP, said the island has been neglected and gone without a suitable MP since 1997. PLP MP Anthony Moss has represented the constituency since 2002.

This is something that Mr Smith told The Tribune has disadvantaged the island and its residents. He said he hopes the PLP selects an appropriate candidate for the next election cycle, but if not, he is prepared to come out of political retirement.

“I am a member in good standing of the Progressive Liberal Party,” Mr Smith said. “So my preference would be to run for my party. But if it goes otherwise I would not rule out running as an independent as both Prime Minister Perry Christie and former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham did in 1987.

“However, it is my understanding that both the PLP and the Free National Movement are gathering their candidates. I am also under the impression that there is a general desire on the Progressive Liberal Party side to find a new candidate, possibly two, if the Boundaries Commission (splits the constituency).”

He added: “I for one acknowledge that Mr Moss has tried to do the best he could, but the fact remains that he hasn’t risen to the level of expectations. That is largely because some people are just better equipped than others when it comes to representing a constituency.

“But he lacked what was required for the people of Exuma. It was the fault of those who selected the political candidates. I don’t think Exuma hasn’t had good representation since 1997.”

Prior to the 2012 general election, Mr Smith criticised his party for moving forward with the nomination process of Mr Moss. At the time he suggested that Mr Moss was “mediocre”.

Last December, Mr Moss admitted that he had made inquiries about a foreign man on behalf of the man’s “distraught” Bahamian wife who came to him for help. At the time the man was being held at the Detention Centre and had been convicted of a sexual offence.

However, Mr Moss dismissed claims that the inquiries were an attempt to use his political position to have the Dominican man freed. His intervention had reportedly upset some residents in Exuma, The Tribune was told.

Mr Moss said at the time: “I can certainly tell you that his wife spoke to me and as a constituent of mine it is my duty to investigate. I went to the Detention Centre and I found out he had been there for more than a year – November 29 would have made it a year.

“So it was as a concerned member of Parliament that I thought it was my job to find out the reason why he was being held there.”

His comments came a day after The Tribune exclusively reported that Exuma residents were concerned that the man would be allowed into their community because a prominent figure was reportedly lobbying for his release from the Detention Centre.