Oswald Brown Writes!
By OSWALD T. BROWN
So it turns out that I am not the only person who is convinced that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham is an absolute dictator. All this week, the Nassau Guardian has been publishing a series of sensational articles based on classified diplomatic cables released publicly by WikiLeaks, and in today’s edition (May 25) the morning daily sent shock waves throughout the country with the stunning claim that former Bahamas Democratic Movement (BDM) leader Cassius Stuart “compared” Ingraham to a dictator.
According to the Guardian’s article, during discussions with a United States official prior to the Elizabeth by-election in February of 2010, Stuart “likened” Ingraham to Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe and accused the Prime Minister of “letting the country go to hell and allowing it to be bought by China.”
What makes these assertions by Stuart so embarrassing for him personally as well as for Ingraham, as leader of the Free National Movement (FNM), is that Stuart is now a member of the FNM, having been welcomed into the party like a rock star along with several other members of the BDM in April of this year. Amidst deafening cheers from members of the FNM, the welcoming “ceremony” was held at FNM headquarters on Mackey Street in New Providence and was presided over by the Prime Minister, who noted at the time that Stuart and the other BDM members had “sought a party that they believe will best honour their aspirations and vision for The Bahamas.”
Obviously it didn’t matter to Ingraham that there was absolutely nothing in Stuart’s political history to suggest that he shared the same “aspirations and vision for The Bahamas” as Ingraham and the FNM supposedly do. In fact, the exact opposite was true. Stuart and the other BDM members were outspoken critics of Ingraham and the FNM. Indeed, they vehemently disagreed with Ingraham’s policies. Just a short time earlier, during the debate on the sale of BTC to Cable & Wireless, Stuart publicly spoke out against the very unpopular decision by Ingraham to practically giveaway a profitable Bahamian corporation.
This and numerous other public declarations by Stuart of his opposition to FNM policies should have forewarned Ingraham that Stuart only decided to join the FNM because his previous eleven years as leader of the BDM had gotten him no closer to a seat in the House of Assembly than when he visited that august chamber during a session.
But with a general election scheduled to be held before May of 2012, Ingraham was desperate. His personal popularity and the overall popularity of the FNM had declined considerably because of his dictatorial tendencies and bad governance in general. Despite their differences, however, Ingraham felt that Stuart was a good “catch,” although as a newcomer to the FNM, nominating him for a relatively “safe” FNM seat certainly would cause dissension among politically ambitious die-hard FNMs. Being the absolute dictator that he is, however, Ingraham did not view this as something to lose sleep over because he knew that no one would dare question his decision.
The big question now is this: Will Cassius Stuart still be a candidate for the FNM in the next election?
That’s no longer a guarantee. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Hubert Alexander Ingraham does not like being publicly humiliated and disrespected in this manner. This certainly is one of those cases where a simple apology will not do; after all, Ingraham has a “reputation” to protect. If he does not deal with Stuart harshly, his “bulldog” approach to keeping members of the FNM’s hierarchy in check may no longer be effective. What’s more, those members of his over-bloated cabinet who share Stuart’s view that he is a dictator may decide that they no longer have to put up with his dictatorial behavior and cower in fear to protect their lucrative salaries.
Actually, if Stuart is an honourable man, although they say there’s no honour among politicians, he will resign from the FNM and close the book on his political career. It now appears that rather than join the FNM, his best move would have been to join forces with Branville McCartney and assist him in his efforts to turn the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) into a viable third party. He may have even been better off joining the PLP, whose philosophy is more in line with what he used to promote in the BDM. But both of those doors may now be closed to him because he clearly has no credibility left as a potential politician.
My guess is that Hubert “THE DICTATOR” Ingraham, whom he made a laughing stock of, is about to prove to Cassius Stuart that he was absolutely correct when he “likened” him to Mugabe.
—END —
FNMs KEEP YA EYE ON HIM!!!!
Kevin, no doubt if cables were leaked where the leaders of the NDP likened Christie to a dictator, there would be a story about it. It was Stuart who said these things about HAI so lets stay focused on that and not try to justify or smooth it over by brining up what the PLP/NDP has done. It is understandable now why persons are fixated and condemns his (Stuarts) decision to join the FNM. It is clear how Stuart felt about the PM, yet he tucked in his balls and joined the FNM. Well like the old people say, people with open-gates are either good singers or good liars.
Why is Brown and co all up in FNM business? The PLP doesn’t have anything for him to do, or is this his assignment, to be an attack dog, like Steve Mckinney was leading up to the 2007 elections?
Well, let me drop some draff on you Ossie: if you are fool enough to believe what Christie tells you that he will do for you after he wins in 2012, talk first to CB Moss and others.
Oswald, The photos of this group of men reminds me of: The Laughing Hyenas.
We should want to know: Why Do Hyenas Laugh?
Actually hyenas don’t actually laugh. However, there is a species of hyena called the laughing hyena. When this animal gets excited it does make a howling and clucking noise that sounds very similar to an insane laughter.
However, when a hyena ‘laughs’ it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are happy. The hyena also makes this noise when it is feeling anxious or fearful, for example, when it is being chased by a lion.
Branville McCartney is the lion.
Ossie, Ossie nice try but your brilliance to even place Hubert (AKA) Papa and Cassis what’s his name in the same league is hilarious.
The only thing I find even more hilarious, but still brilliant, was Cassis’s hint to the Americans that if he only had $250,000 he could win the bi election, cause he could then feed we Bahamians appetites for our free t-shirts. We ain’t care if they red, yellow or the green as long as they free and nobody be messing with us on Election Day to go and vote.
You hear that go green Bran. According to brother Cassis, the only thing that will separate you from the prime minister ship is to load up on lots of free t-shirts.
Now, don’t get me wrong Bran you still got to get the free t-shirts folks to not only show up to vote but to vote to go green.
No wonder we love Bahamian politics.
The former BDM leader reminds me about the story of; The Pigeon and The Bad Crows.
…Soon the crows came to the fields to pick the grains. They were there. “More grains! That farmer is indeed foolish, he does not seem to learn,” said the crows to each other. And they laughed among themselves. But suddenly they realized that they were all trapped. They realized their foolish approach and greedy nature had eventually cost them their life.
This is why the DNA Leader do not want washed up politicians!
Had Stuart not been caught when the crows were found….
I don’t see what the FNM has gained by joining forces with the BDM.From what I have been able to gather, not one of the BDM candidates had ever gotten back their election deposits. In addition, Mr. Brown is correct in stating that just a few, short weeks before jumping the wagon, Mr. Stuart was openly lambasting Mr. Ingraham and the FNM. But the same thing can be said about Dr. Andre Rollins and Mr. Wells and their now dissolved NDP. They openly criticized the PLP and Mr. Christie. I don’t hear any PLP complaining about the NDP joining the PLP.Yet we all same to be fixated on Mr. Stuart joining the FNM. If we are going to condemn Mr.Stuart and Mr. Ingraham joining forces, then we must also condemn the NDP and the PLP joining forces. Further, I think Mr. Stuart was beside himself in likening the PM to Robert Mugabe. Mr. Mugabe is a ruthless murderer. To the best of my knowledge, the PM has never shed anyone’s blood.If he was a dictator like Mugabe, all of the Opposition party candidates would either be dead or in exile. True, the PM had fired several of his Cabinet Ministers in the past for not toeing the party line,but so did Sir Lynden. I don’t hear any PLP calling the father of the nation a dictator. Also, I remember about ten years back, Mr. Christie and Bradley Roberts engineering Mr. Obie Wilhcombe’s removal from his chairmanship post in the PLP. That was a clever move by Mr. Christie. Mr. Wilhcombe had expressed an interest in the leadership post of the PLP. That is why he was removed. No one called Mr. Christie a dictator then, so why are we now calling Mr. Ingraham a dictator? We need to be fair.
you ever heard about mental death. that what ing-rum doing to most bahamians. and that’s murder to me.
Kevin, all you have to do is put Christie and Ingraham side by side and as soon as they both speak you will be able to tell the difference. One speak and addresses others with class the other left school too early…
Interesting what poeple say when presented with facts from history. The Bahamian way to respond? When it cant be refuted, resort to insults.
I really hope he does get a ticket to run this election. Seeing Stuart take a beating would give me great pleasure in knowing that Bahamians still have some scruples. In the many years that he has been running with the BDM he has produced nothing. In the short time of the DNA a whole lot more has been done. Not that I’m a Bran fan, but hey the differences are clear between these so called ‘alternative’ parties. Simply put the BDM had no money and Stuart no credibility. And yet still, I think he is worse off today that he was yesterday. Poor fella.
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