The Tribune

By PAUL G TURNQUEST Chief Reporter pturnquest@tribunemedia.net THE Democratic National Alliance will be putting forward a new candidate for the MICAL constituency, after the previous political hopeful, Delano Munroe was dropped by the organisation. DNA Leader Branville McCartney revealed last evening that his party has decided to replace Mr Munroe with another candidate who The Tribune has learned is 35-year-old Jervis Williams, a local contractor in Inagua. Mr Williams is also the nephew of Vernon Symonette, a former FNM Member of Parliament and Speaker of the House of Assembly. While Mr McCartney would not speak about the court case in which Mr Munroe has been charged with stealing by reason of employment, the DNA leader said that the decision to replace him was based primarily on the "best interests" of the people of MICAL. "In light of the circumstances that would have come to light, we thought it was best for the people of MICAL and for the party to move in a different direction and that is what we did. We made a determination and acted on it. "Unfortunately in politics today. we see persons on the other side who do not make such decisions. "In Parliament today, we have persons who have admitted wrongdoing - which amounts to a criminal act - and nothing has been done. Persons who have even submitted their resignations, those resignations have not been accepted. "When we become the government we want to be in a position to amend the Constitution to recall MPs if they are not acting as good representatives and, of course, that determination would be made by the constituents because we believe that is vitally important for good governance," Mr McCartney said. The DNA leader added that the Bahamian people now only seem to see their respective Members of Parliament every five years when they are canvassing for the people's votes. This kind of "absentee representation", Mr McCartney said, is what his party will do away with. "We want to put the power in the hands of the constituency. So if your MP is not doing right, they can be recalled. I think that would cause these MPs to be more responsive to their constituency. What I did in Bamboo Town, from day one was to continue to do things in the constituency. I can let my record speak for itself." With Mr Munroe being the third DNA candidate having to be withdrawn by the party, Mr McCartney said he does not think that this reflects poorly on his party or the selection process under which his candidates have been put. "This is nothing new. This has happened before. Candidates can be moved and even moved to different constituencies. We want what is best for the relative constituencies. We want the best representation. We are making these decisions now. I don't think it should be looked at as something untoward. If we did not, then I could see people looking at this in a negative light," he said. On February 13th, the DNA is expected to hold elections for its deputy leadership post - a race Mr McCartney expects will be "hotly contested." This event is expected to be followed by an official "reveal" of the deputy leader at the Wyndham Nassau resort on February 15th. "I think we are positioning ourselves quite well. What we have done in the past nine months is historic. We are a major party in nine months. I would dare say that has not been done in this entire region. God willing we will be the government soon," he said.