Dear Editor,
Former NBA player Rick Fox was ratified by the Free National Movement (FNM) for Garden Hills on Tuesday night. This is a significant development on the political front.
Let’s be honest – the FNM, once embroiled with internal dissent between supporters of FNM Leader Michael Pintard and those of former Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis, did not live up to its potential as the opposition.
The governing Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) encountered very little resistance from the FNM, as resources were spent dealing with the turmoil created by those who opposed the leadership of Pintard. What’s more, the media offered scathing assessments of Pintard, which I believe was unfair, considering the circumstances which were no fault of his own.
As The Nassau Guardian editorial stated a while back, there doesn’t seemed to have been an appetite among Bahamian voters to change the government. This voter apathy will give way to election fever once we draw closer to the election.
Getting back to Fox’s ratification, this must be viewed as a big catch by the Pintard team. Fox is by far the most influential and impressive candidate fielded by either the FNM or the PLP. With an accomplished professional basketball career in the NBA that spanned 13 years, Fox was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1991 in the first round after a successful stint on the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Fox had the distinction, as a Bahamian, of playing alongside the legendary Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.
With the Los Angeles Lakers, he played with Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel, Robert Horry and Derek Fisher.
As stated in a previous write-up, Fox was a member of an explosive triangle offense that included Shaq and Kobe. Coached by the legendary Phil Jackson, who himself had coached Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen on the Chicago Bulls, this iteration of the Lakers won three consecutive NBA titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
When Fox announced his intentions on running for the House of Assembly in late 2025, international media houses, such as ESPN, carried the news. This underscores the international appeal and celebrity status Fox brings to the FNM table. Not only did Fox excel at professional basketball, he is also an accomplished actor, having a played one of the lead roles in Tyler Perry’s 2008 film “Meet the Browns”. Acclaimed actress Angela Bassett and actor Lamman Rucker also starred in the movie.
An entrepreneur, Fox is CEO of Partanna Global. As a civic minded Bahamian, he established the civic program dubbed Bahamas Future Movement. This shows his willingness to roll up his sleeves and contribute towards nation building.
Bahamians, most notably, FNMs, should be ecstatic about the thought of Fox being sworn in as the next MP for Garden Hills. Fox will help to further legitimize the leadership of Pintard, after having to suffer the indignity of being unfairly raked through the coals by the media.
Also, Fox will help the FNM mount a far more effective fight on New Providence. If the FNM is to be successful, it must fare much better than it did in 2021, when it won only Killarney, St. Barnabas and St. Anne’s out of the 24 constituencies. The PLP won 21.
Fox can help the FNM win at least half those seats by wooing tens of thousands of young voters who are so prone to being apathetic towards the political process. I believe the voter turnout will be high as it has traditionally been prior to 2021. Fox’s presence alone will make this the most interesting election in recent memory.
If the FNM can win 13 of the 25 seats on New Providence, plus four of the five seats on Grand Bahama, coupled with the two seats on Abaco, that’s 19 seats. And Long Island is an automatic win, bringing the total seats to 20. The FNM would then need just one more seat to capture the government, with the House of Assembly having 41 seats.
This is all now made possible with Fox on the FNM ticket. This hypothetical scenario assumes that Fox will unseat the PLP incumbent in Garden Hills, Mario Bowleg. I believe he can, and I also believe he will.
What’s more, Fox’s presence within the FNM will bring international spotlight to this general election. The eyes of the sports and entertainment industries, especially Hollywood, will be on The Bahamas in general and the FNM in particular.
It might even woo many visitors to The Bahamas during the election period to get a firsthand look at the process. One of the highlights of this election cycle will be getting to hear Fox at FNM mass rallies lay out his vision for Garden Hills and the entire Bahamas.
Pintard must be commended for wooing arguably the most famous candidate to ever run for the House of Assembly. It was difficult to imagine Pintard becoming prime minister. But with Fox running under the FNM banner, Pintard now has a puncher’s chance of pulling off the upset win in the general election — something no one thought possible this time last year.
— Kevin Evans