By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE Progressive Liberal Party must change, said South Andros and Mangrove Cay MP Picewell Forbes last night, as he castigated some in the organisation who became “haughty, big headed, selfish” and “sometimes didn’t even want to shake supporters hands” during the Christie administration’s last term in office.

Meanwhile, former Minister of Grand Bahama Michael Darville said the party lost focus of the bigger picture. However, despite this, he maintained the PLP is the only political party with a vision and plan for the economically struggling Grand Bahama.

Their remarks came during the second night of the PLP’s 53rd National Convention, which is far less grand and elaborate than the party’s last convention held in January. Under the theme “We Will Rebuild” the event was well attended, but every seat was not filled in the ballroom of the Melia Nassau Beach Hotel.

“Mr (convention) chairman – how could a party with such a track record of accomplishments and sound record and proven record of investing and believing in its people, find itself where we are today? We must ask ourselves the difficult questions – honestly and sincerely we take a real introspective examination of our ways and reform, redress and readjust some things, post-haste,” Mr Forbes said.

“One of the tasks we clearly have is to rebuild trust in our political party system within. Yes we must make sure the people who work and support the party know they are in control, and that we remain, especially those who aspire for high office, be cognisant of the fact that the politicians are always the servant and that the people are always the masters.”

He also said: “The PLP must move away from Bahamians feeling a sense of entitlement without hard work, but we must renew in our people a new sense of national and personal responsibility. The days of being a PLP, and expecting to have rights to big contracts, high paying jobs and all its accoutrements, without being accountable and responsible are gone. We must recognise that things are changing. We must rebuild this party and this country through the values of freedom, values of fairness, and values of responsibility.

“The poor, indigent and the less fortunate have always been with us – they thought we lost our way and many of these persons in this demographic have a view that we lost our way – the elderly, stalwarts, the frail, the disenfranchised and persons living over-the-hill like my mom, generally thought that we in the PLP became too haughty, big headed, selfish and arrogant and sometimes didn’t even want to shake our supporters hand.

“Mr Chairman, party leader, the PLP must change,” Mr Forbes said.

“There are some people in the forefront of this party who speak on our behalf politically, civically, religiously, and otherwise – whose time has come and must now step aside. We gotta get some better persons in the camp because if we are going to rebuild, change cannot only appear to happen, but the discerning Bahamian electorate demands real, evidential and tangible change in the PLP.

“We can no longer have the same persons for the last 10, 15, 20 years in charge of all the arms and capacities of the party. They can no longer play those same roles and expect a different result,” Mr Forbes said.

Regarding the state of Grand Bahama, Dr Darville said the situation there is taking a turn for the worst. He claimed long standing businesses are now closing their doors because of sluggish economic activity and the Minnis administration’s failure to bring change to the island.

He said three Grand Bahamian Cabinet ministers have no plan for the island, adding that the PLP will now take to the streets and reclaim the island in the 2022 general election.