By SYANN THOMPSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

sthompson@tribunemedia.net

BRANVILLE McCartney’s return to front line politics for the 2022 general election is still “up in the air”.

Since Mr McCartney stepped down as leader of the Democratic National Alliance in 2017, he has been enjoying life as a private citizen.

After Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis launched the Free National Movement’s campaign for the 2022 election on Wednesday night, Mr McCartney was asked if he will be back in frontline politics.

“At this stage I haven’t put my mind to what’s going to happen at that time, in terms of 2022 election, you never say never,” said Mr McCartney.

The attorney, who has been approached by the leading parties, said that he had friendly talks on both sides.

“I’ve been approached by PLP and FNM and saw something that said I had a drink with the prime minister and there was talk about that. But several months ago, I had an impromptu drink with Brave Davis, and we had a good lunch together, but no cameras were there, and it was in a more private setting,” said Mr McCartney.

At this point, the former Bamboo Town MP wants to see the old ways of political culture thrown out so that the country can advance. He talked about what would be the determining factor to push him back into front line politics.

“The leaders, whoever they may be, have a genuine determination that the leaders can get this country back on track from the position of dealing with our economy, crime, the illegal immigration concerns, the education system and the enhancement of that and building up health care facilities and improving our healthcare system, and certainly the person who would look after the elderly and those who cannot help themselves. Then there’s someone who’s serious, because we can’t have the same ole’ same ole’ because that’s what we’ve been having for the last 15 to 20 years,” said Mr McCartney.

Regardless of who is in power and gets the work done, Mr McCartney said the country is at a critical stage and needs to move in the right direction. “I want to see this country advanced, and if you have the FNM in power I would want to see them do what is necessary for the advancement of this country and the advancement of the Bahamian people and that is what is important to me. If the PLP is in or comes in, I would hope they do the same thing, same thing with the DNA. If the DNA gets in, I hope they would move toward the advancement of this country,” said Mr McCartney.

The last 20 years the country has not advanced significantly according to Mr McCartney, who said The Bahamas tends to forget the advantage of its location.

“It’s frustrating, when you travel around the world and you see other countries advancing and moving forward knowing that we can do the same thing,” he said.

He continued, “I hope the country gets back on track, certainly there’s something amiss. We have too many people in this country that are suffering trying to make ends meet and the business community has taken a blow, especially with the increase in VAT and, of course, now with this other indirect tax with the power company. We are still in a recession from 2008. We can be much more advanced in this country than where we are, just our location only is an industry and we are not using it. It’s been frustrating to say the least.”