Sands cannot live without washed-up Ingraham. It’s so sad.

The Bahamas is once again being asked to suspend disbelief. We are being told that Duane Sands stands as an independent political force, guided by conviction and principle. But recent history — and not-so-recent memory — tells a very different story. What we are witnessing today is not the emergence of a decisive leader. It is the unravelling of a man who has yet to demonstrate that he can stand firmly on his own political feet.

Let us start where the public’s trust was most visibly shaken: his resignation as Minister of Health amid the controversy over testing passengers connected to a high-profile event during the COVID-19 emergency. The episode at Princess Margaret Hospital — the very heart of our public healthcare system — raised troubling questions about judgment, accountability, and respect for the rules imposed on ordinary Bahamians. While citizens were separated from loved ones and small businesses were suffocating under restrictions, special accommodations appeared to be made for the privileged few. Dr Sands resigned, yes. But resignation is not redemption. It was an acknowledgement that something had gone deeply wrong under his watch.

And yet, despite that record, we are now being told that he deserves renewed confidence.

The more pressing concern, however, is not just about past missteps. It is about who is really driving the bus. Increasingly, it appears that Dr Sands is not his own man. The political fingerprints of Hubert Ingraham are all over this latest chapter. Ingraham, a former prime minister who once unquestionably wielded political influence, seems unwilling to accept that his era has passed. The Bahamian electorate has spoken — repeatedly — and the message has been clear: nostalgia is not leadership.

The so-called political “currency” that Ingraham once enjoyed has depreciated. The recent Golden Isles election and the Grand Bahama by-election were not subtle signals. When Kingsley Smith secured victory in Grand Bahama despite Ingraham’s visible involvement, it was more than a loss. It was a referendum on relevance. The Bahamian people demonstrated that past stature does not guarantee present respect.

Yet here we are again, watching what feels like a recycled strategy: place Duane Sands front and centre, prop him up with the old guard, and hope the electorate forgets.

But the electorate remembers.

Dr Sands’ political résumé is not one of triumph. He has lost more elections than most politicians could survive. In Elizabeth, he was shown the door by a determined opponent who outworked and outmanoeuvred him. That defeat was not merely electoral; it was symbolic. It showed that grassroots politics cannot be substituted with pedigree or patronage.

Now, in Bamboo Town, after undermining Renward Wells, he finds himself facing Patricia Deveaux — a political opponent who has proven she is no pushover. And when the going gets tough, what does Dr Sands do? Instead of demonstrating resilience, conviction, and independence, he appears to retreat into the protective shadow of his political “papa.”

That is not strength. That is dependency.

The Free National Movement’s desperation is palpable. When a party begins “grasping at straws,” recycling personalities rather than cultivating new leadership, it signals the exhaustion of ideas. The Bahamian public deserves more than recycled power dynamics from decades past. It deserves leaders who can articulate a vision for a modern Bahamas — not politicians clinging to old alliances and old grudges.

Politics is not medicine. In medicine, credentials and seniority command automatic respect. In politics, respect must be earned — and continually re-earned — through courage, independence, and accountability. Dr Sands is, by all accounts, a skilled physician. That calling is noble and necessary. But governance requires a different constitution. It requires thick skin, strategic discipline, and an ability to withstand pressure without retreating into political dependency.

If Sands believes that Ingraham can rescue him from political vulnerability, he is misreading the country’s mood. The Bahamian people are not looking backwards. They are looking forward. They are weary of kingmakers who believe they can impose their will from behind the curtain.

What we are witnessing is not the rise of a confident leader but the exposure of a fragile candidacy. A politician who cannot stand alone will always struggle to lead a nation. And a party that believes yesterday’s influence can guarantee tomorrow’s victory is courting disappointment.

The Bahamas deserves leadership grounded in present realities, not political nostalgia. If Duane Sands cannot demonstrate that he is his own man — free from the shadow of Hubert Ingraham and accountable to the people first — then perhaps the most compassionate advice is the simplest one: return to the calling where his skills are unquestioned and his service uncontested.

Ingraham shows up in Bamboo Town with Michael Barnett, who is supposed to make a statement, but the only message received is that Duane Sands is in fear of his weakening political life and that Barnett has already given up on his daughter against Minnis and Robyn Lynes. Sands saw a storm approaching; he believed Ingraham could save him.

Because in politics, softness is quickly exposed. And the Bahamian people are no longer willing to indulge political illusions.