"My reason for saying so is that I do not think that the general public and the turnout for the election would be as strong as we have seen it in the past. Bahamians, as you talk to them more and more, the problem that is emerging is that many of them are being discouraged and disenfranchised by politics and politicians," said PLP Senator Jerome Fitzgerald.
The laid-back Senator, who appears to have moved out his comfort zone in recent weeks to publicly address a number of pressing issues, was a special guest Monday on the Love 97FM Issues of the Day radio talk show hosted by Wendall Jones.
Asked by the talk show host if he was being disingenuous as regards PLP leader Perry Christie by stating that he should not vie for re-election – even though Mr. Christie was responsible for appointing him to the Senate, Mr. Fitzgerald responded: "The point I am making to you, [and I understand your point], is that I think that moving forward it would be a mistake for Mr. Ingraham or for Mr. Christie to put themselves forward to run in the next elections. I think as far as the Bahamian public is concerned, that would be something that moving forward, would not be in their best interest.
"They have served their time and have served the country extremely well and have done so with a degree of courage and commitment and sacrifice, probably well beyond what was expected of them.
"The point has now come where I think the parties themselves, the FNM and the PLP, have to look within themselves to decide whether or not the public will accept them in moving forward."
The PLP Senator noted, however, that he does not believe that there should be a change in the leadership of the PLP at this present time. "I think any change in leadership should be organized, it should be structured and it should be respectful to the present leader Perry Christie," he said.
The PLP Senator, an attorney by profession, also expressed his support for the country to be led by a younger leader.
He said the Bahamian people must make the decision of whether or not they are willing to continue with old ideas from older leaders, or if they wanted to make a shift to accepting new ideas to address the many new challenges that the country now faces.
"The point is with the leaders, if you look at it today, we are using the same old remedies that we used for old problems and for new challenges today," Senator Fitzgerald said.
Asked if he was interested in leadership [not of the Party], Mr. Fitzgerald responded: "I am interested in doing whatever I need to do to propel the country forward. I am a member of the Progressive Liberal Party, I believe largely in the values and philosophies on which the PLP is based and that is the reason why I am a part of it.
"I made the decision that now is the time to get involved and I am doing that. I am doing work in the Marathon constituency now and at the end of the day if I see that the position becomes available and I think that it is in the best interest of the party and I have sufficient support, then it is something that I would consider."
Senator Fitzgerald said at some point Bahamians must acknowledge and understand that they must forge a new vision for the country, even if it means electing a new leader. "We are moving to the point where we are now in an area where we are talking about global leaders and them making decisions that impact us globally and Barack Obama has embodied that to a great extent…we have to encourage more people in my view, more younger people, who are of the mindset to get involved in politics."
Meanwhile, Senator Fitzgerald said he is disappointed with the lack of political maturity that the government has exercised with regard to being open to discussing different points of views.
He said as it now stands, there is no defined purpose of clarity or direction as to where the government is taking the Bahamian people.
"A key example of this is government spending and what the government is spending," the PLP Senator noted. "I don’t agree with [the government] spending $120 million on road works at this point and time. I don’t think that we need new roads in Nassau and I don’t think we need new ways to correct traffic here.
"What we do need to do is try and fix some of the issues that we have with our public transportation system and I think there are other ways we can spend $100 million, so at the end of the day when this recession passes, we can say that the country benefited and that we can see how that $100 million investment was made…we have to invest in areas that would impact our GDP and increase our revenue base and I don’t think roads is a critical area at this point and time."
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