By ROGAN SMITH
Leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Perry Christie (Journal file photo)
Former Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Perry Christie has gone back on his promise to quit mid-term if he is elected prime minister in 2012.
Mr. Christie had earlier promised that if he is elected prime minister he would not serve out an entire term in office, but would rather hand over the country’s leadership to a successor. But, during a special edition of the Island FM weekly talk show, Parliament Street with hosts Charles Carter and Patti Roker yesterday, Mr. Christie changed his mind. "I want to use this occasion to correct it, to remove any kind of apprehension about that," he said. "Essentially, I was being led by the fact that I have an obligation to ensure orderly succession. I was trying to communicate in fact that at the end of the term we should be in a place to be able to signal to the Bahamian people what I mean by orderly succession." He continued, "When I said that I would leave mid-term or when it was said that I said I would leave mid-term that was perhaps a mischarectirisation or misstatement on my part because I know that people will vote for you because of what they think you will do for them. And for me to hold out the possibility that I would leave or the probability that I would leave mid-term would not be fair to the people who would vote for me to present those programmes and policies that we will present to them in the next campaign." During a recent Meet the Press event, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, who also has intentions of running in the 2012 General Election, said he would not make such an agreement with the people to step down mid-term. "When it’s time for me to go I will go and the party will select my replacement, but I’m not going to make that kind of deal. I’m not in the position where persons are at my heel and I have to tell them ‘listen, I will make space for you.’ Others have to do that," Mr. Ingraham said at the time. Mr. Christie said party leaders need to know when it is time to step down. "You have to prepare to go and we don’t have in our system the set terms and even though the former prime minister [Hubert Ingraham] tried to bring that into effect. But, he himself went against that. Everyone now understands that that’s something you don’t do given the parliamentary democracy we have." The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader said a leader will know it is his or her time to go when he or she has been tested. Several PLP members went head-to-head with Mr. Christie for the leadership post during last year’s party convention. "I have been tested. You had people who ran against me. I got 86 per cent of the votes, and therefore, it would seem to me that it is a safe conclusion to draw that I have the overwhelming support of PLP voters and supporters in the country. I believe that that is entirely due to the fact that they saw what I did in my five years," he said. "They have concluded that if I had five additional years the country would have been measurably improved over what it is today and they would wish to give me that chance." Mr. Christie said contrary to popular belief, he is not holding on to power by his fingernails, particularly since there are many qualified people in the party who can take over. "The Progressive Liberal Party should be very proud of the fact that it has an extraordinary array of talented men and women who are in parliament and who are aspiring to get in parliament," he said. "Quite frankly, it would be a lottery for me now to suggest that I know who will succeed me because there are so many qualified aspirants. There are many others knocking at the door of leadership." A Tougher Stance Many Bahamians and political pundits have labeled Mr. Christie as an indecisive leader due to his consultative style over the years. In fact, many feel Mr. Ingraham won the last general election because voters preferred his tough, decisive style of governance and ability to keep his MPs in line. But, Mr. Christie yesterday said he was "mischaracterised and misdescribed." "I oversaw an extraordinary five-year period where we impacted the country in a very enriching way both economically and I think in terms of maturity [in terms of] the approach to governance. And so from that point of view I think it is wrong. When you look at all the programmes we did an indecisive leader could not make that happen," he said. "And everything that this decisive leader is dealing with today, that is Hubert Ingraham and I say that with tongue in cheek, is [because of] every single thing I left in place for him." He said Bahamians ought to revisit their characterisation of him as indecisive. "With respect to whether or not we control our people, I admitted frankly that when people saw some of the decisions I made with respect to people who they thought should be dismissed or dismissed earlier than they were or resignations accepted, I accept that I may have allowed people to believe it was due to indecision," he said. "When I made the declaration that if I were given another opportunity those things would not happen again I thought I was making a full and frank expression to the Bahamian people that those things would not happen in any future PLP government that I lead." Mr. Christie also slammed Mr. Ingraham saying he does not appear to be understanding in his pronouncements or in his policy declarations and decisions.
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