Forrester Carroll writes on BP

Dear Editor,

The evidence is now irrefutable, that to be a part of Hubert Ingraham’s inner circle (cabinet) one has to agree to castration; and to personally delivering his severed testicles to the king (Hubert) in a sealed plastic bag. Branville McCartney, apparently, refused to comply, as required, and so he is out. What the young minister didn’t realize (and no one told him) is that in agreeing to become a member of Ingraham’s cabinet, one is duty bound to abandon any ideas he may have of operating with any degree of independence. It didn’t occur to him (and no one told him) that in the Ingraham cabinet, ministers are not permitted to think for themselves; that what Ingraham tells them, is what they are required to do; and how he tells them to do it, must it be done, no questions asked. No one told Bran that Ingraham does all the thinking for his ministers and for his cabinet; that’s just the way it is. The young minister (ex) didn’t have a clue that the entire cabinet was made up of eunuchs; Ingraham being the chief of them all, having himself been castrated of his independence, his pride and his dignity, by his Bay Street masters, on assuming leadership of the UBP/FNM, prior to the 1992 general elections. He (Ingraham) is nothing more than a glorified puppet, in the service of his Bay Street masters- an “Uncle Tom” of the first order, if you will.

While I maintain a degree of admiration for the former junior minister of immigration, for not allowing himself to be further humiliated and abused, I deplore his duplicity which dominated his lengthy press statement, published on Monday 1st March. What does it mean when he says (on the one hand) quote; “The factors that motivated this, run the full gamut of issues and emotions; some more compelling than others. In the forefront are my feelings of stagnation and inability to fully utilize my political potential at this time…it is also my belief that our current political system is headed in the wrong direction…respect must be the order of the day no matter your political persuasion” unquote. McCartney, in his statement as well, referred derogatorily to 20th century ideas prevailing within the political system. Did you think Sir that we (the public) would be too stupid to understand that you could only be making these, indictable references about Hubert Ingraham and his FNM Administration? I ask this question because further along in your statement you contradicted yourself by promoting the dictator and his government, as being the best for the country at this time, and you seem willing to readily pledge and assure both, of your unwavering support. If I didn’t read what you said for myself, I would never have believed that you could pretend such double-mindedness. This is the point at which I lost a degree of respect for your manhood. McCartney obviously doesn’t mean or believe what he said, but felt he had to say it, (at the expense of prostituting himself even) in an effort to keep his options open, in the FNM, in the event of a come back to fight another day. I must tell you though, Mr. ex-junior minister, there are no more days for you in the FNM. One thing is for sure and that is, (and I predict without any fear of contradiction) that as long as Hubert Ingraham has anything, at all, to do with the FNM, you Sir are finished. If you are really entertaining thoughts of a come-back, in that organization, you might as well put that baby to sleep and try and maintain-in tact-the little dignity you have left. You are not the first to resign from Ingraham’s cabinet to pursue the ambitious notion of a leadership challenge and, just like your predecessors; you will not be permitted to succeed either. What makes you think that you are any smarter than Algernon Allen, Tennyson Wells and or Pierre Dupuch? All of whom were cut down to size, by the Dictator, and made to bite the dust disgracefully, I might add.  You’ve got to know how the game is played, mister, and you’ve got to know with whom you are dealing. Ingraham is not interested in your talents-he never is; what he wants and craves for, from those he puts in positions, is total subservience. Ingraham’s price, when appointing persons to these positions, is total servitude; nothing less.  He gets off on, seemingly, and enjoys knowing that his appointees owe him their very livelihoods. I believe, implicitly, that Occultism plays a major role in the affairs of the leadership of the Free National Movement and I am convinced, beyond much doubt that, Hubert Ingraham is the chief Celebrant. How else can it be explained that Dr. Duane Sands, an eminent cardiothoracic surgeon, seems quite prepared to fight tooth and nail, and sacrifice a half million dollar-a-year income, to become a possible member of Ingraham’s cabinet, where his maximum yearly earnings would not exceed 20% of that figure?

It just makes no common sense to me; and so my conclusion is that he must have been put under a magic spell of some kind.
But let’s get back to the matter at hand; the resignation of the state minister for immigration, from the Ingraham cabinet. It is my considered opinion that the minister resigned as a result of a falling out with his leader; notwithstanding the flimsy excuses he gave in his press release. He could no longer, I submit, work under conditions where he could not make simple decisions without having them rescinded, by Ingraham or his surrogate Brent Symonnette, and where many times he only learned about his  being overruled through the media. Ministers don’t just resign for no good reason; when they do, it is either that they are being promoted to a higher position or because they have been given an ultimatum to resign or be fired. I suspect the latter in the case of Mr. McCartney.  I put it to the ex-junior minister that he grew tired of Ingraham’s bull crap; he could no longer deal with the humility, the disrespect and the subjugation of being given a portfolio but not the authority to perform his duties. His and Ingraham’s relationship became strained, as a result, and the bubble just burst. The former minister (it is widely reported) was never consulted, neither was he aware, about the removal of Mr. Bowe from the immigration department to the defense force; nor was he forewarned of the release and conditions of release of the 115 illegal Haitians from the detention center; neither was he consulted, in advance, on the decision to deny approval of Mr. Hannes Barbak’s work permit. Additionally, he was furious at Ingraham’s response to the press with respect to the Inagua “tent city” suggestion, as opined by Mr. Jack Thompson, when he reminded the reporters (as if we don’t know) that he is the prime minister and not Branville McCartney and not Jack Thompson.

From this day forth-I’ll assure the ex-minister; and until he finally gets fed up and resigns from the FNM altogether -Mr. Branville McCartney will be targeted, picked on and treated like a leper. He will be shunned by all in the FNM who, heretofore, he thought were his friends. He will not find it very comfortable co-existing in that organization, as he has in the past.  His now former colleagues will not want to be seen around him anymore, for fear of risking the wrath of the Dictator (Ingraham). They will avoid him like the plague; why? Because they are gutless and because they realize that, to keep their jobs, they are obliged to kiss Ingraham’s behind twice a day-(Monday through Saturday)-and ten times on Sundays. Carl Bethel was a good example of that “kiss-Ingraham’s-behind” mentality, as we all witnessed his over zealous carrying-on, during the mid-term budget debate in the Hon. House of Assembly last week. He reminded me of the jack-in-box tale, while jumping up and down so often during the presentation by the Hon. Alfred Sears, that even the speaker got tired and weary of him and instructed him to sit down; that he had no point of order, many times. I submit that the only thought/question lurking in Ingraham’s mind, at the moment, is; “How in the hell do I go about destroying this little peep-squeak, upstart?”

I read with interest the front page story, in the Tribune today(Wednesday March 3rd )and I saw where they’ve(Ingraham’s FNMs goons) started already attacking Branville; I wish to assure him of one thing, that it will get worse before it gets any better. In an FNM council meeting held last week, it was reported that Branville was their only topic of discussion. He was accused for the FNM’s failure to secure the seat in Elizabeth; having lost the polling division (number 11) assigned him during the campaign. All they need, Mr. junior minister (ex) is an excuse; and any old one will do, so long as they are able to harass you right out of the FNM, at the end of the day.

The PLP’s national chairman was quite right to regard the minister’s resignation as an indictment of Ingraham’s volatile leadership style and, as he said, should be a source for serious concern by all Bahamians. All I can say is that Ingraham must have studied Adolf Hitler, Idi Armin, Stalin and Italy’s Mussolini in order to develop his unique style of dictatorship-he is a damn dictator, no question about that. If the truth were known, not a single one of those puppets hanging around him would have anything good to say about him, if we were able to isolate and talk with each of them privately. But they all act like frightened little sissies, who should be wearing women’s underwear instead of men’s jockeys.

The leader of the PLP has already extended the olive branch to Mr. McCartney and so the only thing I wish to say further is, continue to hang around those cut throats, if you must my brother; for as long as you feel you must,  but when you would have had enough of their crap (and I know the time will come when you will have had enough) the door to the fold of the PLP will be wide open for you; as it is for Dr. Rollins; Cassius Stuart and any one else.

Thank you
Forrester J Carroll J.P
Freeport, Grand Bahama
8th March 2010.