The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

THE leadership crisis within the Free National Movement should never have spilled out into the public domain, according to former FNM Chairman Darron Cash.

Mr Cash told The Tribune he was saddened by the public showdown between FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis and the six MPs who have demanded an early convention date. He insisted that the situation would not have escalated as it has, had the party’s executive addressed long-standing issues instead of seeking to snuff out critical voices.

The threat by parliamentarians of a petition to oust Dr Minnis as opposition leader, he said, is a “cry for help”.

“It should not have come to this,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “It is honestly saddening that it has come to this, but what it reflects is the complete failure of leadership. It is the leader’s job fundamentally to harmonise all the various groups within the organisation; that’s the leader’s job. It’s his job to make sure elections are done in a manner that is fair to all sides and so the party’s affairs do not spill into public domain with threats of legal action; to iron out differences, however acute, however difficult, however personally challenging. It’s the leader’s job to make sure that issues are resolved in a way that still maintains confidence in the party.”

The FNM’s central council is expected to consider calls for an early convention at a meeting Thursday night. Ahead of the meeting, several MPs penned an eight-page memorandum in an attempt to convince the council to swiftly decide on an early convention. The memo comes days after the same MPs threatened to petition the Governor General to have Dr Minnis removed as leader of the Official Opposition.

Dated May 31, 2016, the memo names Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner, St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman, Central Grand Bahama MP Neko Grant, Montagu MP Richard Lightbourn, North Eleuthera MP Theo Neilly and Fort Charlotte MP Dr Andre Rollins as the senders.

Mr Cash said the memo documents the resistance of leadership to heed concerns and highlights long-standing issues that were ignored. He said it was not surprising that the MPs renewed their attempt after their earlier bid failed to effect change.

“If the expectation is that you will address issues in council,” he said, “then it goes to leadership if council is a place where you are attacked for expressing a point of view, attacked for stating the obvious. Nothing was done, no dealing with the underlying issues. If it would have happened, I fully believe we would not be here. A national political party should never be surprised that it loses a general election. If it’s doing it’s job properly, and has people in central leadership and central council prepared to honestly be a conduit for feedback from the wider community and its people, it will always know when it’s losing touch with people.

“If council is not a place where people can speak openly and honestly on what the word on the street is then leaders will always act in a delusional state as if nothing is wrong and all is fine. When people are afraid to speak the truth because they are afraid of being attacked, vilified, or demonised, then the only voices you will have are from the people saying that all is well, things are good.”

While Mr Cash would not speculate about what actions the six FNM MPs will take, he said it appeared as though the dissenting parliamentarians will have no choice but to “pull the trigger” if a new date is not set for convention. He said he is satisfied that the organisation can get through this contentious period, but whether it will come together in unity is contingent on the leadership.

He also would not speculate on whether Dr Minnis will be able to remain as party leader.

“This country is in a position where we have got a large number of significant issues that will require difficult, painful, challenging, disruptive solutions for the entire country,” he said. “You can just imagine what Cabinet debates will be like when in the midst of making difficult and painful decisions. A leader has to demonstrate now that when he is in Cabinet, corralling his heard of cats who sit around table, it’s his job to demonstrate he has the ability to bring unity, to rally people around right choices.

“If you’re not able to do it in opposition, people have legitimate reason to doubt when in the heat of battle and the country is under siege, when (there is) murder on the streets day after day, whether you’re able to effectively deal with it,” said Mr Cash.

At an earlier council meeting, there were calls by some factions within the party for Mr Cash to face disciplinary action over his critical public commentary of the party and FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis. However, Mr Cash told The Tribune that there has been no formal appeal issued for such action.