Opposition Leader in the House of Assembly and Long Island Member of Parliament (MP) Loretta Butler- Turner yesterday suggested that Opposition forces are being hindered from throwing out the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Government because too many individuals want to lead.
In an interview with The Bahama Journal, Mrs. Butler-Turner lamented the urgency of opposition forces uniting to get rid of the current Christie administration.
The Long Island MP has made steps in this regard by recently appointing Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Branville McCartney as leader of Opposition Business in the Senate.
This move was subsequent to the so called “rebel seven” successfully ousting Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis as Opposition leader in the House of Assembly last December.
“Truth be told, everybody wants to lead. Rather than us just trying to work together to show that we can be unified, no matter what organization you’re with, we’ve got to be able to demonstrate some type of coming together; even in our respective positions. At the end of the day, the Bahamian people expect nothing less,” Mrs. Butler-Turner said.
“I think the state of confusion that we are all in, causes people not to be sure which direction to go. You’ve got Opposition forces, four, maybe five different set of Opposition forces, you’ve got a government that people would like to be rid of and the Opposition obviously, we find it most difficult to dialogue,” she said.
There have been questions regarding the relationship between Mrs. Butler -Turner and the DNA leader after the two had conflicting stories on whether they had an agreement to form a coalition.
“I really had no recent discussions with Mr. McCartney, but as Leader of the Official Opposition, I think it’s important that we continue to do the work of the people, not be distracted by side arguments among opposition forces. So I think sometimes it’s best to let that die down,” said Mrs. Butler-Turner.
“We’ve got to be very focused on holding the government accountable and realizing that we in opposition, whichever organization we’re a part of, we’re not each other’s enemies. Our ultimate goal is to try and rescue our country,” she said.
“In that regard I didn’t answer any of the things that Mr. McCartney has said. The record reflects exactly where we were and there are press conferences can to show we had in fact had discussions,” she added.
Mrs. Butler-Turner had said last month that she and Mr. McCartney had had discussions on forming a coalition party.
However, Mr. McCartney refuted that claim, denying that there were any discussions on that matter.
The Long Island MP had later accused Mr. McCartney of throwing her under the bus.
