andrerollins

Thursday, June 25, 2026
84 °F Nassau, BS

CSJ Report-Understand Bahamian News

CSJ Report explains the latest news stories, providing clear, contextualized content.

andrerollins

One month later: Michael Pintard’s Opposition has entered attack mode

Election defeats can trigger leadership crises but one month after the Progressive Liberal Party secured another mandate, Michael Pintard remains firmly in place as leader of the Free National Movement.

Despite mischievous calls from some government supporters for him to step aside, Pintard is not retreating and his party has shown little interest in replacing him.

Instead, the first month of the new Parliament has revealed that the FNM may have lost the election, but it appears determined not to lose the public conversation.

The FNM entered the House of Assembly with eight MPs, one more than it had at the end of the previous term. It is still a small opposition facing a government with an overwhelming majority.

The defining issue has been the Politician-1 controversy in its first month.

Rather than allowing the matter to fade into the background, the Opposition has turned it into the centrepiece of its parliamentary strategy. Pintard repeatedly attempted to raise the issue in the House but House Speaker Patricia Deveaux ruled against discussions and Fred Mitchell objected to efforts to table references to the DEA allegations.

Yet each attempt to shut down the conversation seemed only to generate more attention.

In politics, sometimes being blocked can be as valuable as being heard and the Opposition appears to understand this.

The now-famous “Not Politician-1” badges perfectly captured the strategy. Critics dismissed them as gimmicks while supporters praised them as clever political theatre. Either way, people talked about them.

The badges generated more discussion than many parliamentary debates ever do.

Meanwhile, Long Island MP Andre Rollins has quickly emerged as one of the most visible figures on the opposition benches. His return to Parliament has brought exactly what many expected—confrontation.

Whether challenging government MPs, questioning rulings from the Speaker, or defending the Opposition’s right to be heard, Rollins has reintroduced a level of parliamentary combativeness that has for the most part disappeared from Bahamian politics.

His presence has reinforced that the Opposition no longer appears interested in being polite.

Last term, some FNM supporters complained that Pintard was not aggressive enough. They wanted sharper attacks, louder objections and a more confrontational approach toward the government.

One month into the new term, they appear to be getting their wish.

The latest example came when Pintard vowed to continue pursuing the work of the Public Accounts Committee and challenge the Speaker’s ruling in court if necessary.

And Thursday evening, the Opposition requested Commissioner of Police Shanta Knowles investigate allegations made in a US criminal complaint that ‘Politician-1’ is involved in drug trafficking, delivering a letter to Knowles and a copy of the criminal complaint at Police Headquarters.

That is not an Opposition preparing to accommodate the government but an Opposition preparing for a prolonged fight.

Whether this strategy ultimately succeeds remains uncertain, but the first months reveal their instincts.

The Opposition appears to be staying in the headlines and in the fight, ensuring the government does not get comfortable.

The rise, resignation and return of rebel Rollins

Some politicians enter Parliament to fit in, but Andre Rollins appears to have entered Parliament to fight.

On days now, the Long Island MP sits with glasses perched low on his nose, rule book close at hand, he watches, listens and waits.

Then comes the interruption— a point of order, a challenge, a protest, a warning to the Speaker, a demand for fairness, or a reminder that the Opposition still exists.

If Parliament is theatre, Rollins has never been content to play an extra.

For nearly two decades, Bahamian politics has watched him cycle through rebellion, exile, reinvention and return. He has frustrated allies, antagonized opponents and occasionally turned on the very political movements that helped elevate him.

Yet somehow, he always finds his way back to the centre of the action.

The irony is that Rollins first emerged because he despised the political system.

In the 2010 Elizabeth by-election, he arrived carrying his nomination fee in quarters, a symbolic protest against a political culture he believed had become detached from ordinary Bahamians. He refused to bow to the tribal loyalties that defined Bahamian politics. Supporters of the major parties viewed him as an outsider but he viewed himself as a disruptor.

The voters were unconvinced and he lost badly.

But politics has a way of absorbing its critics.

Soon afterward, the Progressive Liberal Party brought him into its fold, hoping to harness the energy of a young, articulate and fearless political newcomer.

For a time, the arrangement seemed to work.

Then the rebel resurfaced.

Rollins became one of the government’s most vocal internal critics, publicly challenging Prime Minister Perry Christie and questioning the direction of the administration. While many politicians privately grumble and publicly comply, Rollins seemed incapable of suppressing his dissatisfaction.

It nearly cost him everything. Disciplinary proceedings followed, party tensions escalated and relationships fractured.

Eventually, he crossed the floor. Then came another remarkable chapter.

Having broken with the PLP, Rollins joined the Free National Movement, only to later become one of Dr Hubert Minnis’ most persistent internal critics. He helped push for a leadership challenge and ultimately pledged to step aside if Minnis survived.

Minnis survived. Rollins disappeared from frontline politics.

For years, it seemed possible that Bahamian politics had finally exhausted him.

Instead, politics did what it often does. It pulled him back.

His return in 2026 was the return of a particular type of politician that has become increasingly rare in modern politics— the institutional troublemaker.

Most politicians seek influence through loyalty, but Rollins has often sought influence through confrontation.

Today, as allegations involving Politician-1, Jonathan Gardiner and claims connected to a DEA investigation dominate public discussion, Rollins has once again found himself in familiar territory—fighting.

When tensions erupted during the ceremonial opening of Parliament, he shouted “shame” from the Opposition benches.

When House Speaker Patricia Deveaux denied his request to read a newspaper article in Parliament, he openly challenged the ruling and warned against restricting the Opposition.

For supporters, these moments reveal exactly why he matters. Many see a politician willing to say what others will not.

A man prepared to confront authority regardless of who occupies the seat of power.

Critics see something different—a provocateur, a perpetual dissident, and a politician seemingly more comfortable in conflict.

Perhaps both sides are right.

The defining feature of Andre Rollins’ political career has been resistance. He has resisted the PLP, the FNM, prime ministers, party leaders and parliamentary authorities.

That instinct has often isolated him, but it has also made him difficult to ignore.

And so, years after carrying a bag of quarters into a nomination centre and thumbing his nose at the political establishment, Rollins once again sits in Parliament—watching, waiting, rule book in hand, ready for the next fight.

Why the FNM had little choice in Long Island

For more than two years, Long Island has been caught in political limbo because its sitting MP, Adrian Gibson, remains before the courts.

Gibson, the former executive chairman of the Water and Sewerage Corporation, has been on trial since November 2023 alongside Elwood Donaldson Jr, the former general manager, as well as Joan Knowles, Peaches Farquharson, and Jerome Missick. The charges stem from contracts awarded during Gibson’s tenure at WSC.

The case has experienced months-long delays, and while Gibson maintains his innocence, the timing creates a serious political problem.

The election can not wait for the court proceedings. And the FNM cannot campaign on uncertainty, nor can they ask Long Island voters to separate Gibson’s legal case from politics.

Running Gibson again would have meant asking voters to focus on constituency work while a corruption case remains unresolved.

It would also give the Progressive Liberal Party an easy line of attack, one that would dominate the campaign discussion, no matter what the FNM might argue.

The FNM’s choice of Andre Rollins seems necessary rather than a preference.

Rollins is no stranger to politics and is a descendant of Long Island.

He has run under both major parties before, crossed the floor, stepped away, and now returned, saying he is “here to stay.”

Rollins bring familiarity and stability to Long Island at a time when the party cannot afford to experiment with Gibson.

Rollins has said he has not yet spoken with Gibson but hopes for his support and intends to build on the work already done in Long Island. His careful language reflects the tightrope the FNM have to walk, moving forward without publicly disowning Gibson, still awaiting the end of the trial.

Ultimately, this ratification could be more about reality.

With an election approaching and legal proceedings unresolved, the FNM choosing Rollins was the only viable option.