The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Hubert Minnis should be ashamed of the dirty tricks he is employing in his bid to retain the leadership of the FNM.

The manipulation of the Bahamian public is in high gear by the PLP and the Hubert Minnis faction of the FNM.

It is very evident that Dr Hubert Minnis is dedicated to saving his job as Leader of the FNM and hence Leader of the Opposition. His biggest and most ardent supporters in this effort are the PLP.

That is why Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcolm and Chairman of W&S Corp, Leslie Miller are so fulsome in their support of Dr Minnis. They understand that if Dr Minnis continues as leader of the FNM, that party will lose the next general election and Dr Minnis will continue in his prized position of Leader of the Opposition…exactly the result they want.

Hilariously, Mr Miller attended Dr Minnis ‘Roc wit Doc’ launch to announce that if Loretta Butler-Turner becomes the leader of the FNM, he as a PLP, is assured of re-election in the next general election.

Presumably, if Dr Minnis continues as leader Mr Miller’s seat will not be as secure. So we are to believe that Mr Miller wants Dr. Minnis to continue as FNM Leader even if it means that he, Leslie Miller, will lose his seat in the House of Assembly. I for one do not believe him and neither should any true supporter of the FNM.

Apart from the PLP, those who most strongly support Dr Minnis remaining in office are led by a curious gathering of former FNMs who eye taking control of the Opposition machinery for their narrow personal gain: – Tennyson Wells, and a number of individuals who depend on Mr. Wells for salaries or honorariums to meet their living expenses; others receiving incentive payments from Dr Minnis; FNM Councillors and delegates appointed by Dr Minnis with the singular purpose of their keeping him as leader of the FNM; and finally a few misguided old guard FNM who are likely unable to overcome their generation’s aversion to women in leadership positions.

The irony of the situation is that Dr Minnis is not truly the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament today. He does not enjoy the support of the majority of the members of the House of Assembly who are in opposition to the Government.

He continues to hold that title and the salary and other perks of office solely at the pleasure of the Members of Parliament who oppose the Government and who have, up to this point, saved Dr Minnis the embarrassment of having the position taken from him.

The most insidious aspect of the FNM leadership campaign is the adoption by the Minnis faction of the PLP campaign strategy of vilifying the educated and professional segments of our community as “elites” and of resorting to vile racial slurs that belong to a bygone age. Do we really want to say and can we possibly believe that the grand-daughter of Milo Butler is not a woman of the people?!!

Bahamians must also come to terms with the contradictory behaviour of too many of us.

On the one hand, we encourage Bahamians to educate their children and to break down all the barriers that in the past stopped intelligent and talented black and or poor (yes, there have always been and continue today to be poor white or Conchy Joe’s) Bahamians from accessing the best educational institutions and good job opportunities.

Then, having achieved what we sought for so long, we now castigate and bad-mouth successful Bahamians? Suddenly the children of successful lawyers, bankers and engineers are tainted people? And the children of those who fought for Majority Rule and breaking down racial barriers and opening opportunities for all are no longer qualified to aspire to leadership. This is madness.

What is more, Hubert Minnis is a beneficiary of all those efforts – by people like Milo Butler – to open opportunities to young black Bahamians. It was Milo Butler who demanded that the Royal Bank of Canada stop its racial discriminatory practices against hiring black Bahamians as tellers in their bank branches. Now his granddaughter is not a suitable leader simply because she is his granddaughter but Hubert Minnis is ok? Pure nonsense.

It cannot be that Hubert Minnis, a millionaire many times over and certainly a more wealthy individual than is Loretta Butler-Turner, should convince poor Bahamians that he is more interested in their welfare than is she.

Where does he live? Where does she live? What charities does he support? What assistance did he extend to victims of last year’s hurricane season? How many man-hours did he lend to the recovery effort? Was it the time it took for him to accompany Prime Minister Christie in a fly-over impacted communities? Well the newspaper accounts alone can tell you how many man-hours Loretta put into that effort.

COMMITTED FNM

Nassau,

July 7, 2016.