The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

FNM DEPUTY Chairman Dr Duane Sands said yesterday the only way the party can “dig itself out” of a public relations “hole” is for Leader Dr Hubert Minnis and Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner to “resolve their issues amicably.”

His comments came as Mrs Butler-Turner and Dr Minnis are expected to battle head-to-head in a leadership race at the party’s planned convention next month.

Speaking with The Tribune, Dr Sands said the tension between the two is pulling the party in different directions. He said the only way to get back on track is for Mrs Butler-Turner and Dr Minnis to “get on the same page.”

His comments came one day after Mrs Butler-Turner warned Dr Minnis that he is “playing a dangerous game” by calling a snap convention next month without her consultation.

In an email sent to Dr Minnis, Mrs Butler Turner said she was “quite taken back” that Dr Minnis decided to hold a last minute executive meeting while she was out of town.

At that meeting, FNM executives decided that the party would have its next convention on November 21.

It was previously expected that the convention would be held in the first quarter of 2015.

“Until matters are settled with them, nothing is going to be seen as fair and reasonable by both of them,” Dr Sands said.

“So the best thing at this point of for their issues to be resolved and hopefully resolved amicably. I have gone on record saying the internal challenges in the FNM have become a distraction from the real issues facing the country and those issues, the ones facing Bahamians, are the ones that are important. The public has reposed a tremendous amount of trust in us to get it right and so we have no other choice but to get it right and if that means having this convention sooner rather than later to eliminate all this issues, so be it.”

Dr Sands would not say which position he will be running for during the convention, but said he will make an announcement on the issue “soon”.

In January, Dr Sands told The Tribune he is considering running for leader of the FNM, but said he had not made a final decision because there were conflicts that “pull me in other directions”.