The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

DESPITE his clash on live radio with former Free National Movement Chairman Darron Cash, party Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest said he fully expects the intra-party friction to “calm down” as the organisation actively seeks to prepare itself for the impending 2017 general elections.

However the fiery war-of-words that has come to characterise the party’s public in-fighting in recent months, showed no sign of slowing down yesterday as Mr Cash rejected calls for him to “fall in line”.

Mr Cash said that any political party that refused to embrace and benefit from political dissent is unworthy of becoming the government.

Elucidating his point, the former deputy chairman stated: “There are times when a citizen must draw the line, not toe the line”.

He was responding to comments made by current chairman Sidney Collie, and printed in The Nassau Guardian on Saturday.

Mr Collie said it was clear that some persons were not willing to work with the party, adding that he personally felt that the organization should move on from detractors who were unwilling to accept or move forward from the convention’s outcome.

In his statement yesterday, Mr Cash underscored that some FNMs had fundamental disagreements with party executives over the leadership of the FNM and the execution of the convention, which saw allegations ranging from abuse of power to corruption.

Mr Cash said: “In issuing this dictatorial edict, Collie advocates continuation of the ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ style of politics where wrongdoings at the highest levels are conveniently covered up so everyone can have a good pretence about ‘unity.’

“In the end, principles are compromised, wrongdoings are covered up or glossed over and the Bahamian people are the losers because ‘Peter‘ (The FNM) reveals himself to be no different from ‘Paul’ (The PLP).”

“The leader and chairman of the FNM cannot preach about democracy in our national government and political affairs when they fail to live by those same principles within the political party they lead,” he continued.

“They cannot talk about anti-corruption measures, openness and transparency in the manner in which a government should manage its affairs when they out rightly refuse to acknowledge, much less fix, the undemocratic flaws or weaknesses in the political party they lead.

Mr Cash said: “The very idea that I and others ought to simply ‘fall in line’ reflects an unseemly arrogance and tone deafness that effectively illustrates why our party is in the fractured state that it is in today.”

According to Mr Cash, Mr Collie’s attitude encouraged the belief that the FNM and the PLP are “two sides of the same coin”, underscoring that Bahamians were becoming increasingly fed up with Mr Collie’s political methods.

“It is the kind of politics that makes a representative hide a damning environmental report from his constituents in order to save his own job...as opposed to taking action to save his constituents’ lives.”

Mr Cash said: “It is that kind of ‘fall in line’ politics that makes cabinet ministers in the Christie government and leaders of the FNM turn a blind eye to obvious, blatant and undisclosed conflicts of interest on the part of leaders who use their positions in government to enter into lucrative contracts with themselves, friends and families. 

The on-air row, which kicked off on Thursday between the two FNMs over Mr Cash’s claims that FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis ran a racially divisive campaign, rounded off a tough week for the party’s unity push.

On Tuesday, Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner accused the party of attempting to “buy her off” after executives made several offers to her following her dropping out of the leadership race last week during the convention. 

The next day, Central Grand Bahama Neko Grant resigned as Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Assembly and the party’s shadow Works Minister – pointing to his relationship with Dr Minnis as the motivating factor.

When asked why he made the decision to confront Mr Cash publicly, Mr Turnquest told The Tribune that he could not allow him to “mislead” Bahamians.

“I listened to the show and I certainly was inclined to leave it alone except for when he called my name and stated that I incited an outburst from people gathered at the convention – supporters from Grand Bahama in particular,” he said. He also said “he was not talking what he heard, but what he knew. I just had to correct that one point.”

“I saw it as an insult to my supporters and certainly as an insult to me.”

Mr Turnquest said: “It is interesting that not all of the crowd that gathered around me was from Grand Bahama, but plenty of them were from Nassau.

“It is obvious Mr Cash was a bit misled on the facts and I just sought to help him with that.”

 Mr Turnquest said while there may be small factions in the party who remain opposed to the newly elected leadership, the FNM is now focusing on defeating the Progressive Liberal Party-led government.

“I expect it to calm down very soon as we are actively looking forward to getting the party ready for what is coming soon rather than later.

“We are going to obviously have to ramp things now because the convention brought a lot of things to a stand still.

“So we are putting our energy toward that.”

He said the party expects to ratify additional election candidates by the end of the month.