The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Sidney Collie said yesterday there is “no chance in hell” that FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis will be removed from his post before the next general election.

Responding to comments made by Dr Andre Rollins last week, Mr Collie said the Fort Charlotte MP is a “loud mouth, political juvenile” that is “just talking to hear himself.”

While appearing as a guest on Freedom March with host Rodney Moncur last Thursday, Dr Rollins said he and “others” are working to have Dr Minnis removed as party leader because the Killarney MP is “incompetent and unfit to lead.”

Dr Rollins was one of seven FNM members of Parliament who wrote Governor General Dame Marguerite on December 7 asking that Dr Minnis be removed as leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Assembly.

Yesterday, Mr Collie said Dr Rollins could not be trusted because he frequently switches political allegiance.

“What he is suggesting is not even possible,” Mr Collie said.

“He started his own party that didn’t last long, he joined the PLP that didn’t last long, he was in the FNM and that didn’t last, so now he is in the DNA,” Mr Collie said.

Despite this assertion from the FNM chairman, Dr Rollins has not announced that he has joined the DNA. In fact, he and the six other MPs have said they are not resigning from the party despite a call from Dr Minnis for them to do so.

The group now faces disciplinary proceedings from the party.

“He needs to stop dreaming. Dr Rollins in my opinion is a political juvenile. He is a loud mouth and is bold and unafraid but has a lot to learn about politics. I dismiss any notion that Dr Rollins can remove our three time elected leader of the FNM. His comments are like spit in the wind and you cannot pay attention to it.

“So what is his plan? To move into the FNM, utilise the constitution, hijack the council and call a convention to remove Minnis? He has no chance in hell. It is just ridiculous, he is talking to hear himself, no one else is paying attention.”

Dr Rollins was voted into the House of Assembly on the Progressive Liberal Party’s ticket. He quit the PLP in mid-2015 after becoming disenchanted with the leadership of Prime Minister Perry Christie and joined the FNM in November last year.

Last week, Dr Rollins said after he joined the FNM and got an opportunity to work alongside Dr Minnis, he found the party leader uninspiring.

“Dr Minnis may be a nice guy, somebody who people might think is (upstanding). I believe that the danger is that Dr Minnis doesn’t have what it takes to lead this country by evidence of what we have seen thus far with the Free National Movement. Dr Minnis doesn’t give me any confidence that he has what it takes.”

He added that Dr Minnis has done a great job selling the belief that he could change the social norms of the Bahamas but hasn’t offered any effective timeline or action plan on exactly how he would go about it.

He has previously challenged senior FNMs to call Dr Minnis to a series of closed-door meetings with the intention of helping him realise he should resign as FNM leader.