The PLP Makes Wife of Its Founding Father Mad

Lady Marguerite Pindling is not happy right now, about the party her husband Sir Lynden Pindling founded.

The prominent figure and former Governor General gave a scorching rebuke of the Progressive Liberal Party on Majority Rule Day, the same day marked in honor of her husband’s fight for equality for Bahamians.

Standing near his gravesite at a ceremony behind a podium, she said the party is using her husband as “a stepping stone.”

“I do not appreciate it,” she said as her hands shook.

Prime Minister Philip Davis who now leads the PLP, sat in the front row, emotionless, along with former Prime Minister Perry Christie, who succeeded Pindling. He too sat quietly as a small crowd gathered under and around a tent, clapping and cheering.

“I’m sorry Mr Prime Minister, I promise I was going to behave, but I think yall should know who I am by now.

“You owe me an apology and I expect Mr Chairman [Fred Mitchell], right now,” she concluded before she abruptly walked off to her seat.

Her remarks are surprising since she has never made a public political commentary. Though it is unclear why she is upset, her anger against the party may have been brewing for some time. Her daughter Monique Pindling castigated the party in 2021 when she was refused the nomination as candidate for South Andros, also claiming the PLP only wants to use her father’s name when it is convenient, suggesting the party alluded to the negativity attached to the Pindling legacy.

“It’s not that we have sole ownership [of his legacy] but my thought is, you can’t use him when it’s convenient for you, you can’t use him for good and then say it’s bad, you can’t use him when it’s good occasions or certain occasions and then drop him when you feel like it,” Monique said in 2021.

“If you’re gonna use him, use him for good. Don’t just use him as if he’s a commodity when you could get up and you could say what you want to say.”

She said about a meeting in January of that year which she described as “interesting” and “tight.”

“They wanted me or my mom or my family to participate at the (Sir Lynden’s) gravesite for Majority Rule,” referring to the celebration in 2021.

Pindling is revered as the most dominant figure in Bahamian politics.

Lady Pindling continued on Tuesday, “The leadership was so excited, they forgot I existed. But I want you to know that I’m alive, doing well, of sound mind, and in good health. And waiting for all that is going to take place. Because I do not like it. I’m sorry Mr Mitchell, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I cannot contain it any longer.”

The questions are whether the party will lose supporters who revered Sir Lynden Pindling, will the party now be viewed as unstable, and whether Lady Pindling’s remark has created a bad image for the party.

Photo credit: Tribune–Moise Amisial