The Minister of Foreign Affairs and National Chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) addressed questions on the party’s unity after a contentious race for the nomination of a candidate for the West Grand Bahama and Bimini by-election.
The Hon. Fred Mitchell told reporters, “the candidate is the candidate and everybody has agreed to all hands on deck to try and get that candidate elected.”
Speaking of the PLP’s candidate Kingsley Smith, Mitchell said, “he has significant ties to the Bimini community itself. So he was born in West End, his father was a stalwart councillor. His mother was a Martin, she was born a Martin. So he has significant ties to the West Grand Bahama community. Well known, he’s performed well as Chief Passport Officer, people are proud of his success as an attorney. So we think all the ingredients are there to present a fit and proper person.”
Mitchell also addressed talk of a split in the PLP saying, “I don’t think the party is angry so I thought we were singing Kumbaya all along. You can get confused by seeing the back and forth which plays itself out in the public domain, but you know that’s the vigours of democracy. A line is drawn under it and, you know, we’ve moved on.”
