The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

PAINTING a picture of a country trampling toward ruin if the Progressive Liberal Party remains at the helm, Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner last night made her case for why she is the best person to lead the Free National Movement even as she urged the party to move past the bitter infighting that has gripped it for several years.

The speech came a day before she hoped to reverse the results of 2014’s convention when she lost decisively to Dr Hubert Minnis in the leadership race.

The challenge ahead of her was made clear when, just before she was scheduled to speak, Dr Minnis made his initial appearance in the ballroom of the Melia Resort, prompting the crowd to burst into cheers and sustained chants of “Roc wit Doc,” his campaign slogan.

As she wrapped up her speech, many chanted the same phrase again.

“Let us pledge to do better in living up to our values and working for the greater cause of unity,” she said. “If you elect me as your leader I pledge to unify our party in word and deed.”

In what was one of her last, best chances to turn delegates towards her, she presented a vision of a country failing in every way while expressing optimism that an FNM government could initiate a turn around.

“Our middle class is collapsing and the poor are getting poorer,” she said. “The Bahamian people are struggling under the weight of debt and bills, while they are taxed to high heaven, with little to show in return.”

“If the PLP is re-elected, by 2022 the Public Treasury may be bankrupt, our currency may be devalued, our credit rating may be even worse, and the economic miracle that was the Bahamas will be at death’s door.”

To this dystopia she offered one solution: a unified FNM that, she said, would rid the country of the PLP’s corruption and improve the economy.

“It must be the mission of the FNM to restore hope and confidence in our people and to rescue the country we love,” she said. “It has always been the job of the FNM to rescue the Bahamas. We did so in 1992 and in 2007. We must do so again in 2017.”

Bahamians are not “feeling the FNM,” she said, adding: “You and I know that an army needs boots to march….But it also needs a leader. A leader who will inspire. A leader who will stay on the battlefield. A leader who will look out for all FNMs, who will look out if any of us hits hard times and needs the family to look after them.”

As Mrs Butler-Turner called for unity, some in the room gestured that she has been a chief source of disunity in the party.

Her prepared remarks appeared to briefly address their gripe, saying: “At times I have not lived up to the spirit of (our party’s) enduring motto. For this I offer regret and the promise to help heal and unify our party.”

However, she did not make this statement from the stage.

The overture may have helped mollify some delegates who have repeatedly expressed fury at the role they believe she has played in exposing the party’s divisions.

Near the end of her speech, Mrs Butler-Turner called for FNM parliamentarians to join her on stage, just as she had done when Dr Minnis invited her on stage Wednesday night. However, none of the parliamentarians, other than Senator Dr Duane Sands, her running mate, responded to her request.

As her speech ended, the crowd, some appearing agitated, began chants of “Roc wit Doc.”