By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Deputy Leader Chester Cooper told party faithfuls last night they are fighting for the “very soul of our nation.”

“It is a fight that we wage day by day to determine if the Bahamas will continue to wander aimlessly under the visionless, greedy, conflicted, self-dealing, inept, tainted behaviour of the Free National Movement, or if The Bahamas will keep moving forward into a new age under the stewardship of the PLP.”

Mr Cooper, speaking during the opening night of the PLP’s first national convention since 2017, joined other speakers in portraying the Minnis administration as uncaring and out-of-depth.

Speaking of the party’s plans for governance, Mr Cooper said the PLP, if elected in the next election, will begin the conversation of transitioning the country into a republic, citing Trinidad and Tobago as an example.

He also spoke of the need for campaign finance legislation to ensure that elected officials are not beholden to special interests.

Last night’s event was a characteristically lengthy and lively call to action for the party, featuring speakers that varied from established PLP heavyweights like Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin to newcomers like Progressive Young Liberals Chairman Deran Saunders.

Two years after infamously accusing the PLP of becoming weak, dishonest and overcome with greed, Monique Pindling, the daughter of Sir Lynden Pindling, also spoke. She praised the work of party leader Philip “Brave” Davis but attracted the most applause when she talked about her father.

“We, the Pindling family, have never spoken out before but now the time has come that I must stand up and defend his legacy. He has been written about, accused, judged, misjudged, lied upon, abused and betrayed but I, Monique Marguerite Pindling, through him, say for you tonight that we are tired,” she said.

Danielle Gibson, a woman fired by the government from her post as assistant manager of the North Eleuthera airport in 2017 for reasons that have never been made clear, also spoke last night. Blasting the Minnis administration for the slew of firings that have happened in the last few years, she proclaimed herself a victim of victimisation.

The main event of the convention will take place today - a chairman contest between incumbent Fred Mitchell and former Tourism Minister Obie Wilchcombe that has caused tension in the party.

For her part, Mrs Hanna Martin called on PLPs last night to “maintain dignity.”

“This party should never be about the small and the petty,” she said. “It should never be seen to be cannibalising its members, never be seen to be the playground of power for its own sake.”