Cecil wallace whitfield biography of albert davis

However, given the long tradition of a free press that has persisted without interruption in this country, the author decided to publish it in a two-part series in this weekly column. The past 50 years of Bahamian politics, like the wider society, is a story of the loss of civility and the respect for compromise.

In Canada, we honour the legacy of the late Al Dillette, who established our office in Toronto, and we welcome Melanie Griffin as his successor.

It is also a saga of failed attempts to restore those two traits, which floundered because of the amazing ambition to attain and hold power and the dismaying disregard for the national well-being. Therefore, in this two-part series, we will Consider This… what has been the practice of politics for the years to ? One of the most critical dates in current Bahamian history remains January 10, , Majority Rule Day.

To some, it is even more important than Independence Day, July 10, This is because Majority Rule marked the end of hundreds of years of control of the Bahamian political, social, and business pillars of society by a white oligarchy. They were laser-focused on ousting the group of white businessmen-cum-politicians who collectively came to be known as the Bay Street Boys, who had formed the second major political party of the day in under the banner of the United Bahamian Party UBP.

This event foreshadowed the first instance of the loss of civility and respect for compromise in our domestic politics. In the general election run-up, the two major parties, the PLP, and the FNM, vehemently campaigned from diametrically opposite polls. The PLP campaigned on the promise to seek political independence from Great Britain if it won the election, so the voters knew that a vote for the PLP was a vote for independence.

Conversely, the FNM strongly opposed the move to national sovereignty. That extremely contentious, single-issue campaign signaled another instance of the loss of civility and respect for compromise. The general election, which the PLP handily won, was pivotal from two critical perspectives. That sent an unequivocal message that the country was not pleased with the men who had initiated the fracture that resulted in the split of the previously united PLP.

The independence debate and the concomitant secession movement arising out of the discourse on the subject signaled yet another example of the loss of civility and respect for compromise.