On the ground in Andros, mixed views on Forbes’ decision

Mangrove Cay and South Andros MP Picewell Forbes was a “lousy MP” and it is time for the constituency to see a change, Karis Rolle-Davis, a resident of Calabash Bay, said yesterday.

But other residents said Forbes did his best and was at the mercy of successive administrations, which did little for the constituency.

Forbes announced on Monday that he will not run in the next election.

“That’s a good thing he did,” Rolle-Davis said.

“He probably should have done that a long time ago, even though the PLP still won in the constituency. We need a change. He’s been here too long.”

She added, “He was our MP for so many years and from I was here he’s never been to my house or even visited my house,” she said.

“He doesn’t help anyone do anything. I tried to get a job for one of my sons here at Water and Sewerage a few years ago and I didn’t even waste my time calling him.

“It’s like he don’t even try and help, even when the PLP was in power. That’s why I round it all off to say, he is lousy.”

Rolle-Davis said she’d welcome a new PLP or FNM candidate and hopes that it signals that things may change for the residents of South and Central Andros and Mangrove Cay.

Lenora Braynen, a resident of Mangrove Cay, said Forbes’ decision to announce his retirement from front line politics in the House of Assembly before he told his constituents was “disrespectful”.

“I don’t care that he didn’t say anything to me, but he should have said something to them, letting them know and not having them shocked like everybody else by what he did,” Braynen told The Nassau Guardian. 

“That was selfish and that was disrespectful to the whole constituency.”

Many of the residents from Central and South Andros and Mangrove Cay who spoke with The Nassau Guardian said yesterday that they were surprised by Forbes’ announcement. 

Some declined to speak on the record.

Braynen, a member of the Progressive Liberal Party’s branch in Mangrove Cay, said she doesn’t support Forbes. 

“I voted for Mr. Forbes the first and second term,” she said.

“The third time, which would have been 2017, I had made my position clear in our branch meeting from 2016, that I was not going to be voting for him should he be the candidate.

“On a personal level, I have no issues whatsoever with Mr. Forbes. He’s a good person. My thing was the representation for me as a constituent in Mangrove Cay. I can’t speak for the south area and I can’t speak for the central area.

“I was always up front with him telling him how I felt and how others in the branch felt because not all of us are blunt and outspoken. I told him up front, ‘You need to pull up your socks because the way things are going right now it isn’t looking good.’”

Braynen said she didn’t vote in the 2017 election because she was not in the country.

“…I wasn’t going to vote for him either way, even if I was in the country,” she said.

“It carries through even to now.”

She added, “Even though I would not have voted for him had he gotten the nomination, I felt bad for him because as a person, Mr. Forbes’ heart is in the right place.

“But in politics it has to be a different playing field, a different ball game. Also, as a politician, I think his shoulders weren’t broad enough. He took everything you said to him personally.”

Forbes was first elected to the House in 2007 as the PLP’s candidate for Central and South Andros. He was successful once again in the 2012 election and served as The Bahamas high commissioner to CARICOM.

In the 2017 election, he secured 46 percent of the votes (849), winning by 129 votes.

Wayne Cleare, of Fresh Creek, said Forbes did his best. 

“For me personally, he was a good friend of mine and I wish him all the best,” he said.

“I would tell him stay the course.

“He was a candidate in the area and I know in the past the leadership, who had the power at the time, didn’t give him the power to do what he wanted to do, even though he had certain things in mind.

“What I mean by that, to break it down, under the Christie PLP leadership they didn’t give him a Cabinet post to deal with Andros.

“Any person coming into Andros now, if they don’t have a Cabinet post is a waste of time. In order to get things done for a backbencher, it ain’t happening.”

Another Central and South Andros resident, who did not wish to be named, said he too felt that Forbes was dealt a bad hand. 

“The people really respected Picewell,” he said. 

“They know he was dealt a bad hand. Successive governments treated South and Central Andros bad. Picewell just never got the support.”

He noted that under the Christie administration and now under the Minnis administration, Forbes struggled to get support from the government to make substantial changes for the area.

The resident said he, like some other residents, was disappointed to see Forbes bow out of the race. 

“I’m watching Kenneth Smith on the ground now,” he said. 

“I’m watching the PLPs put on red shirts. Losing Picewell is going to cause trouble in one of their strongholds.”

Smith is the Free National Movement’s candidate for the area.

As for the way forward, Cleare said the PLP should hold a meeting and formally introduce any aspiring candidates to the community. 

“What the party should do now, before you reach that stage of who you support, I think the people need to come and meet with the constituents, see where we are at and then the constituents can tell the leader who they want to lead them,” he said.

“Once the people decide that’s who they want they have my backing.”

Braynen said she’s unsure who she will support. 

On Monday, Forbes said his decision not to run in the next election was due to uncertainty over his renomination and a lack of support on the ground from the leadership of the PLP. 

But PLP Leader Philip Brave Davis denied this saying that Forbes’ nomination was never in doubt. 

Davis visited Central and South Andros and Mangrove Cay yesterday to meet with branch leaders. He was accompanied by PLP Chairman Fred Mitchell, Senator Dr. Michael Darville and the party’s secretary general Barbara Cartwright.

Forbes was not with them. Instead, he attended the House of Assembly. 

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