EDITOR, The Tribune.

A ghostwriter calling himself The Forerunner wrote in the August 14 edition of The Nassau Guardian the following on Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard: “An examination of the first 17 candidates Pintard ratified reveals a concerning lack of political experience and credentials. Many of these individuals are relatively newcomers to frontline politics, with no noteworthy track record outside of switching from the PLP to the FNM just to receive a nomination.”

Continuing in his fearmongering, the ghostwriter, presumably a Minnisite, asked the question: “If the FNM secures victory at the polls, who will help Pintard govern?” The premise of this hit piece is that the sheer number of political novices who have been nominated by the FNM should give eligible Bahamian voters pause for concern as we enter the height of the political season. Ironically though, the very same arguments being used against Pintard and this iteration of the FNM were used against a young Sir Lynden Pindling and the PLP by the politically seasoned United Bahamian Party government propaganda machinery ahead of the historic January 10, 1967, general election. It is almost as if The Forerunner had copied and pasted the written political rhetoric of Sir Roland Symonette and Sir Stafford Sands. “An examination” of the 11 individuals appointed to the Cabinet in the first Majority Rule administration “reveals a concerning lack of experience and credentials”.

Sir Lynden Pindling (minister of tourism), Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield (minister of works), Sir Milo Butler (health), AD Hanna (education), Clarence A Bain (without portfolio), Jeffrey Thompson (internal affairs), Carlton E. Francis (finance), Sir Randol Fawkes (labor and commerce), Warren J Levarity (Out Island affairs), Dr Curtis C McMillan (communications and Clement T Maynard (without portfolio) were all green from a government standpoint. Heretofore not a single one of these men had ever sat in the executive branch of the government.

To a certain extent, the UBP fear mongering worked, in that the then white minority government gained 18 of the seats in the House of Assembly in 1967. Pindling had to engage in politicking to get Fawkes and Sir Alvin Braynen to side with his party in order wrest control of the government from the UBP. Tens of thousands of Black Bahamians were wary of the PLP and its band of inexperienced candidates ahead of the 1967 general election. Those fears were overblown. Considering the lack of experience of Pindling and Co, they fared admirably well.

The Forerunner, had he been alive in 1967, could have written the exact same thing about Sir Lynden and the fledgling PLP. The funny thing is, though, is that Pintard, unlike Pindling ahead of 1967, had sat in the executive branch during the Minnis administration. The same thing can be said of Marvin Dames, Darren Henfield, Ellsworth Johnson and Dr Duane Sands. Undermining his own arguments, The Forerunner referenced the Cabinet experience of the foregoing men.

Consequently, the arguments of the ghostwriter have no merit. And even if they do, Pintard can simply point to Pindling and his Majority Rule administration. It is a matter of historical precedence.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama

August 17, 2025.