‘Who run you hot’ is a common Bahamian saying. It simply means, who or what has made you angry… really angry!
In 1975, during a debate in the House of Assembly, Michael Lightbourne, Member of Parliament for Long Island – Clarence Town, alluded to something, which caused Prime Minister Lynden Pindling to run hot. Very hot!
Pindling was so angry, that he challenged Lightbourne, to meet him outside for a good old fashioned, bare knuckle, punch up.
“I have two hands and you don’t have enough teeth in your mouth”
An angry Prime Minister Lynden Pindling to Michael Lightbourne MP after Lightbourne made remarks about the cost of his new house 1975
International newspapers were quick to pick up on PM Pindling losing his cool in the House of Assembly. Along with pressing economic problems for the newly independent Bahamian nation, as well as unrelenting questions from the FNM Opposition Party relating to his personal finances, and a precarious international relationship with the United States, Prime Minister Pindling was under tremendous political pressures. It all came to a head in September 1975.
The proverbial straw to break the camel’s back, came when Michael Lightbourne, FNM MP, questioned Pindling’s new half million dollar home.
1975 – Pindling said he would risk his house, position and seat in Parliament for just one punch
Incredibly, after PM Pindling’s outburst in the House of Assembly, a few days later, he wrote to Mike Lightbourne MP, reiterating his request for a duel.
Pindling supposedly said, he didn’t care if his challenge to a duel, by fisticuffs, cost him his house, or position as Prime Minister or even his seat in Parliament. All of it Pindling was prepared to risk, outside in the street, for just one punch of satisfaction.
