EDITOR, The Tribune.

It both surprises and amuses me to some degree that Senator Lanisha Rolle, Maurice Moore and others feel that they can threaten, bully, berate and intimidate FNMs into supporting Dr Hubert Minnis. So…ok…this might succeed to some extent with elected party officers, Members of Parliament and candidates from whom the party is in a position to withhold nominations, appointments and the like.

However, on rank and file FNM supporters like myself, these tactics of course have entirely no impact! The would be bullies and intimidators have very clearly not factored “we”, the all-important “rank and file” FNM supporters into their equation.

Here—let me take myself as an example. I am a long time FNM supporter—in fact, a lifetime supporter—one who long ago took the decision to not become an official member of any political party. How was I supposed to be affected by Senator Rolle’s highly charged, emotional outburst? Was I supposed to have an epiphany and suddenly realise that, “Wow, Senator Rolle is right, Loretta them really jealous of Dr Minnis!” And was I then supposed to withdraw my silent support of the person I regard as far and away the most talented and compelling politician in the FNM?

As I mentioned, my support for Butler-Turner has been silent. Because I am not an official party member, I have no say in the leadership issue. I was therefore prepared to remain silent—at least for the time being. Senator Rolle’s diatribe changed all that.

Butler-Turner has of course been my choice from the very beginning. From the time Hubert Ingraham walked away.  Butler-Turner as leader—Desmond Bannister as Deputy Leader—“Fire & Ice.”

Being female and brilliant—she changes the dynamics like no one else can. Her fighting spirit and charisma combined with the historic nature of her quest to become the country’s first female Prime Minister would bring a buzz and excitement to the undertaking that no one else could possibly generate.

With Butler-Turner as leader, Bahamians would certainly not be able to say as they now do—“ O man, they all jus’ alike—duh’ FNM an’ duh PLP. I ain’ votin’!” One of the parties—the one with the strong female leader would have made itself distinctly different.

Senator Rolle clearly disagrees with me. She contended during her diatribe that Bahamians would never vote for Butler-Turner over Perry Christie. I don’t think that she feels this way because Butler-Turner is FNM and Perry Christie is PLP. She thinks this presumably because Butler-Turner, like herself, is a woman.

Senator Rolle is not trapped alone in this warped mindset. There are others in the FNM and indeed the country at large who feel that the country is not ready for a woman Prime Minister.

This is, of course, a prejudice without a purpose.

Fifty years after Indira Gandhi became Prime Minister of India, the world’s second most populous nation; forty-seven years after Golda Meir became Prime Minister of Israel, the world’s most embattled nation; thirty-seven years after Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of Great Britain, one of the world’s great nations—more than a decade after Angel Merkel became Chancellor of Germany, one of the world’s great economies—and right here in our own Caribbean region, thirty-six years after Dame Eugenia Charles became Prime Minister of Dominica and a full decade after Portia Simpson Miller first became Prime Minister of Jamaica, a country more than ten times the size of our own in terms of population—I find it both ludicrous and laughable that there are those who say that a woman cannot be Prime Minster of the tiny little Bahamas.

I find it difficult to determine just what it was that Senator Rolle’s unprovoked savaging of Loretta Butler-Turner was intended to achieve. But I do know that it runs the very real risk of alienating Butler-Turner’s supporters—including myself.

It therefore surprises me — That elder statesmen like Mr Moore and Mr Key have not recognised this reality

and moved to censure rather than sanction Senator Rolle.

CORNELL STUART

Freeport, Bahamas,

February 5, 2016.