The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells @tribunemedia.net

BAMBOO Town MP Renward Wells has been appointed leader of opposition business in the House of Assembly, replacing Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant who resigned from the post last week in the aftermath of the Free National Movement’s divisive convention.

House Speaker Dr Kendal Major made the announcement in Parliament yesterday morning.

When asked about the appointment, Opposition Leader Dr Hubert Minnis and Deputy Leader K Peter Turnquest said the move was made following internal party consultation and in the best interest of the FNM.

While Dr Minnis refused to go into detail on the scope of those internal discussions when asked by The Tribune, Mr Turnquest said the party considered all of its options to replace Mr Grant and concluded that Mr Wells would best serve the party in the capacity.

“He is a bright young man who has a future in our party and in politics and he’s certainly capable of handling this assignment,” Mr Turnquest said.

The party did not have many options to fill the post.

Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner was first offered the position as a way to soothe tension after her very public spat with the party’s leadership team, but she rejected the offer.

South Eleuthera MP Theo Neilly currently serves in the capacity of FNM party whip and St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman serves as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee.

Fort Charlotte MP Andre Rollins last week announced that he would not be seeking a nomination by the FNM ahead of the 2017 general election and had asked Dr Minnis to rescind his appointment as shadow minister of national security. It is unclear if Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn and South Abaco MP Edison Key had been considered for the post.

Mr Wells could not be reached for comment on the appointment.

The first-time MP, who with Dr Rollins, joined the FNM last November, nearly a year after he was fired from his parliamentary secretary post in the Ministry of Works for signing a letter of intent to have a waste-to-energy facility built at the city dump without Cabinet approval. He quit the Progressive Liberal Party the same day he announced he was joining the FNM.

Mr Grant last Wednesday told Parliament that recent events demonstrated that Dr Minnis was “uncomfortable” with him and “not satisfied” with his performance; all of which he said prompted him to make the decision to resign.

Mr Grant is the longest-serving current member of Parliament of the FNM, having first been elected under the party in 1992.

Back in June, Mr Grant lambasted Dr Minnis in an email over his performance in Parliament during the wrap up of the 2016/2017 budget debate.

In that email, Mr Grant criticised Dr Minnis specifically for “abandoning” his colleagues at 2.30am,leaving MPs to finish the work of the House and suggested that the Killarney MP feigned sickness to leave early.

In the days following his resignation, unsubstantiated reports surfaced claiming that Mr Grant was pressured to step down from the post by party executives; assertions that Mr Grant shot down last Thursday.

“There was absolutely no pressure whatsoever. It was a decision that I made on my own, of my own accord,” Mr Grant told The Tribune at the time.

Mr Grant was not present for Monday’s parliamentary sitting.