Gary Christie Responds to Vicious FNM Lie
Published: Wednesday June 20th, 2007
Gary and Cleopatra Christie at the Swearing in of Mr. Christie as Leader of the Opposition
It is now clear that the Free National Movement and their propagandist partners are not at all concerned with the truth when it comes to the Progressive Liberal Party and our leader, the Rt. Hon. Perry G. Christie.
Yesterday's Tribune published a letter to the editor that made the bogus claim that the late Gladstone Christie said to a person by the name of Richard Johnson that Perry was not Prime Minister material and Hubert Ingraham was.
This lie could not stand as it is highly unlikely that such a comment was made in the first place by the elder Christie. This lie is even more pronounced by the fact that none of the Christie brothers and sisters recall their father having anyone in politics in higher regard than his own son. Add to that the fact that it is clear that Gladstone Christie never even knew the person making the claim and you see that the FNM lie machine is still up and running.
In a very pointed letter to the editor of that paper, Gary Christie, the former Prime Minister's brother, responds on behalf of his siblings. The full text of Gary's letter is below.
June 18, 2007
The Editor The Tribune Shirley Street Nassau, Bahamas
Dear Madame Editor: In your June 15/07 issue, you published a letter from one Richard Johnson Sr. Certain assertions by Mr. Johnson in his letter made me recall a verse from Psalm 40:11 (NIV) that my dear departed mother, Nurse Naomi Christie at times quoted, “May your love and your truth always protect me”.
In his submission to you, Mr. Johnson perpetrated a bold and vicious lie that I challenge here today. I have no concern if Mr. Johnson needs to ingratiate himself to our new Prime Minister, Hon. Hubert Ingraham, but I will not allow him to do so by creating a malicious story that my deceased father, Gladstone L. Christie would have remotely conveyed to him or anyone else that his son Perry Gladstone Christie was not “Prime Minister material” but Mr. Hubert Ingraham was. My father knew Mr. Ingraham personally and would have given him credit for some of his more admirable traits – hard work, fearlessness, perseverance. He and I would have discussed Mr. Ingraham on many occasions, relative to Perry’s own political ambitions.
Mr. Johnson’s inane and dishonest representations relative to Gladstone L. Christie goes against the grain of everything my father believed and communicated to his children and grandchildren. He was a stern, demanding man, who was always questioning whether we were doing enough, (studying, working hard and saving/investing our money) to fully realize our potential to be productive citizens of the Bahamas. He believed that we all had the innate ability to be whatever we wanted to be and generously backed us with his hard-earned money from driving a taxi seven days a week, to ensure that we had the educational foundation to do so.
When Perry as a young teenager was expelled from the Government High School and told an academic career was not suitable for him, his greatest support came from my father who admonished him to “show them you can learn” and the rest is history. In 1987, as political fate would have it, Perry found himself against the powerful PLP machinery in a traditional PLP stronghold. My father never doubted his ability and tenacity to win and never wavered in his support and encouragement. My father proudly attended Perry’s ceremony appointing him Leader of the Opposition in 1998. Madame Editor, you kindly printed in your Oct. 13/99 issue a specially commissioned article, Gladstone Christie: A Chocolate Dandy Life, which in part stated, “about his more famous son The Hon. Perry Gladstone Christie, who today is Leader of the PLP, Mr. Christie wears a father’s pride of accomplishment.” My father died in 1999 and regrettably was unable to see his son assume the Prime Ministership of the country in 2002. There is no question that had he lived, he would have been Perry’s proudest supporter ( after my mother) in the lead up to the 2002 election , exhorting him to do what it takes to win. If my father was alive and alert today in 2007, he would beseech Perry to hold close to his heart Proverbs 24:10, “if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small”. In essence he would expect his politician son to appreciate and adopt that the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Whether in education, politics or life, losing ( failure) was not an option that my father allowed us to readily and easily accept.
Gladstone L. Christie had few friends in whom he confided. Mr. Johnson (who I do not know) was certainly not one of them. I therefore urge him to refrain from transmitting distasteful lies and tales to the Bahamian public that impact negatively on the solemnity of a special father/son relationship. I thank you for your time and space.
Yours truly,
Gary W. Christie