Cecil wallace whitfield biography
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The History of the FNM
It was November 18, 1970 and the whole country knew there was something grievously wrong inside the governing Progressive Liberal Party not ganska four years after it came to power in January 1967.
The collapse in 1969 of an agreement between the Government and a consortium of international investors for the upgrading of Bahamas Airways – the national flag carrier – had caused serious concern in the PLP and was bound to affect the development of air services for many years to come. Not to mention the damage it would do to investor confidence in the country.
Then there was the same year a protracted dispute between the Government and the Grand Bahama Port Authority over proposed changes in the Hawksbill Creek Agreement under which the second city of Freeport had been created. This ended in a unilateral amendment of the agreement bygd an Act of Parliament.
Although there was no split on the floor of the House of Assembly, it was known that some Memb
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Formation – Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield – Founding Leader
In a dramatic vote in the House of Assembly in 1970, eight parliamentary members of the Progressive Liberal Party voted no confidence in Prime Minister Sir Lynden Pindling thus initiating a series of events that led to the formation of the Free National Movement. They came to be known as the Dissident Eight.
They were; Sir Cecil Wallace Whitfield, Sir Arthur A. Foulkes, Warren J. Levarity, Maurice Moore, Dr. Curtis McMillan, James “Jimmy” Shepherd, Dr. Elwood Donaldson and George Thompson. The Dissident Eight initially identifying themselves as Free PLP held meetings at Spring Hill Farm in Fox Hill, the home of Mr. Shepherd. The FNM officially became a political party on 20th October, 1971, with Sir Cecil as its founding Leader.
Members of Other Political Parties Join
The other group, the United Bahamian Party was one of the main political parties in the Bahamas and had governed the country since the adve
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Lynden Pindling was good enough to get them all to the Promised Land. The Promised Land of historically significant political victory, that is. No one else could have, and they all knew it. None of them had what Pindling had. Like Stafford Sands, in his era, there was just something about the combined force of personality and power, that drew people, to a handful personalities, who in their time, would go on to change the course of Bahamian history.
Pindling’s energy, likability and political acuity, drew the grassroots voters to him.
But soon after, reaching the Promised Land, too soon really, the ‘led’ began to have aspirations of their own.
No sooner had the PLP walked into a new chapter of Bahamian history, when some wanted to snatch the rod and staff of leadership, out of Pindling’s hands.
Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, PLP Chairman and Minister of Education, was handsome. He was a smart, energetic and ambitious man. All excellent qualities for a leader.