By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

BRANVILLE McCartney, the former head of the Democratic National Alliance, said yesterday he is “sitting out” the next general election, putting to bed rumours he’ll join the Free National Movement’s ticket.

“I’m sitting out this election, I’m just gonna watch the players play,” he told The Tribune.

Mr McCartney resigned as leader of the DNA after the 2017 general election.

Despite shunning the spotlight in recent years, his stature in the Bahamian political landscape has prompted observers to speculate about his return to frontline politics.

He revealed last year that he had been approached by officials in both the FNM and the Progressive Liberal Party.

When asked if he favours either of the two major political parties in the next election, he offered none of the scathing criticism that characterised his days as DNA leader––simply suggesting instead that the FNM and the PLP lack fresh ideas.

“It would seem that we are in the same position we’ve been in in the last 25 years,” he said. “We seem to keep going around and around in circles. (Which party) is making the most sense? They’re all speaking as if it’s still 25 years earlier. Nothing seems to be moving forward.”

Asked when he decided not to re-enter the fray, he said: “The point is I’m out of politics and there wasn’t a mind to be made up. Of course, you speak with people, persons in the political arena, persons in the different parties whether you see them out socially or otherwise and it wasn’t a need for my mind to be made up.

“Whatever I can do to assist the country I am there but in light of the political landscape, what’s going on, where we are as a country, I don’t think I want to put my hat in the ring so to speak at this stage. I stepped down as leader of the DNA back in 2017 after the defeat and also to allow other persons to build on what we had built and bring new ideas and to push the party forward and my intention at that time was to do whatever I could do from a different standpoint. I see the suffering of the Bahamian people every day, people struggling to put food on their table, pay their rent, keep their children in school and it saddens me that we are in this position. It’s not a position that you could blame on any government or entity. It’s the hand that we have been dealt with.

“It’s very difficult,” he added. “I would really like to see our country move forward. There are a number of setbacks and concerns and consequently the Bahamian people are suffering to no end. That being said, we in this country need a play to move forward, build new industries and equip our people so we are able to face the hope of tomorrow.

“Unfortunately, that seems not in the minds of our leaders and if it is it has not been spoken. That makes you want to do what you can to help and to try and do things to see our country move forward. We are at a standstill and it’s almost a wait and see game in terms of business and the economy and moving forward and that’s not a comforting feeling from a businessman’s standpoint and as a professional who has an interest in seeing improvement. Sitting on the sidelines is really disheartening.”

Mr McCartney represented Bamboo Town from 2007 to 2012. He was elected on the FNM’s ticket but quit the party in 2011 and later formed the DNA.