Former Prime Minister and leader of the Progressive Liberal Party Perry Christie admitted he might have overstayed his time in politics, which may have led to the Party’s overwhelming defeat in the May 10th General Election.
Speaking candidly, Mr. Christie appeared as a guest on the Love 97/JCN Program “Jones and Company where he spoke on numerous issues, notably on why he felt his party did not retain governance of the country.
“ When I apply retroactive thinking to it objectively, I could have made the judgment that I had been in too long. Take for example how I Lost in Centerville, it’s impossible virtually, but I didn’t campaign.
“ I reached the point where I was dedicating myself to finishing policies, notably one in which I made a major intervention on the supply of electricity at a cheap price for Bahamians.
“I left a solution in place and it finished two weeks before the election. And I told my cabinet colleagues I don’t want to do this, because if we lose, the other side will be the beneficiaries of this,” Mr. Christie said.
Mr. Christie added that jobs or the lack thereof, also played a pivotal role in their defeat.
“We created 39,000 jobs during our time. Arguably , I always felt that the problem with The Bahamas when it comes to governments being re-elected is that you have to do much more to benefit people who vote.
“The problem we have is a structural problem when it comes to unemployment.
You need 70,000 jobs as opposed to 30 or 40,000, because every year you have 5,000 people turning out of the schools and whether it’s lack of training, or limited training, or lack of opportunities, or investment the issue has to be resolved,” Mr. Christie said.
The former Prime Minister said despite what was written and said about him over the past calendar year, he will go down as one of the greatest Bahamian political leaders.
“I’ve had an exceptional run in public life, I owe a great deal of gratitude to thousands of Bahamians who made it possible for me to sustain myself in public life for so long.
“I’m in the company of Sir Roland Symonette who did 50 years and Sir Lynden Pindling who did 41 years. When you add my public life, it was 43 years I am in rarified company in terms of the history of our country.
“There has only been three of us who have been able to put that time in,” Mr. Christie said.
In a surprising and humbling defeat at the polls, Mr. Christie lost his seat in the Centreville constituency by four votes after representing the area for more than 40 years.
Christie had held the seat since 1977 and has been leader of the Progressive Liberal Party since 1997.
Mr Christie entered front line politics in 1974 as one of the youngest senators ever appointed at the age of 31. He was elected to the House of Assembly after the 1977 general election as the member for Centreville and went on to win his seat eight consecutive times; including the 1987 general election when he contested the seat as an independent candidate.
