By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Chairman Bradley Roberts yesterday said Raynard Rigby “was not serious” when he suggested he might run for the position of party leader during the party’s convention in November. Mr Rigby is a former chairman of the PLP.

“Rigby can’t be serious,” Mr Roberts said before bursting into hearty laughter when The Tribune contacted him yesterday. Asked if he was under the impression that the top post would be hotly contested, Mr Roberts responded: “Not if Mr Rigby is offering himself.”

He said time would tell if the party and Bahamians were truly ready for new and “fresh” leaders, as Mr Rigby has suggested.

On Monday while appearing as a guest on Star FM show, Jeffrey, with host Jeff Lloyd, Mr Rigby said he was putting his name “on the list” because the Bahamian people wanted new blood and fresh leadership.

When asked by the show’s host if he had consulted his family about this, Mr Rigby answered: “My children who are listening ... know that I am putting my name on the list because I have decided that my responsibility to them and to other young children like them is to work hard to ensure that I do my part in making the Bahamas a better place for them and their children and their grandchildren. I am putting my name on the list.”

During his appearance on the show, Mr Rigby discussed the PLP’s chances of winning the next election and the need for “fresh blood” within the party.

He stressed that the party has to begin the transition to new leadership sooner than later and must court young voters if it wants to hold onto power.

“We can’t be talking about building a bridge to the future for the next 20 years,” Mr Rigby said. “The bridge ought to have been built, got to be ready to be walked on, ran on and travelled on and we have to ensure that we are ready to position the party for the new kind of Bahamian that is upon us.”

He added: “There are a group of leaders in our party, and I say leaders in a broad sense, who do not get what the new Bahamas is about. Who don’t understand the degree of suffering and hopelessness that so many are feeling out there, who don’t recognise the level of despair that people are feeling. They are out of depth.”

West Grand Bahama MP Obie Wilchcombe, who in June revealed his ambition to lead the PLP, yesterday declined comment on Mr Rigby’s bid to contest the party’s leadership.

Mr Wilchcombe has said that his decision on his political ambitions would depend on whether current party leader, Prime Minister Perry Christie offers himself for election.

The party’s convention is slated for the first week in November.