Dr Hubert Minnis
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis reacted sarcastically yesterday to Loretta Butler-Turner’s criticism of his unclear positions on the constitutional referendum, saying he hopes her confidence in his ability to persuade voters will prompt her to support him in the general election.
During an interview with The Tribune on Wednesday, the Long Island MP suggested Dr Minnis played a part in the failure of the referendum by failing to stand by his original convictions and appearing to shift them mid-stream instead.
“I was very happy to see that my colleague has such great confidence in me to make a statement that the referendum loss was a result of my minimal involvement,” Dr Minnis told reporters at the House of Assembly yesterday.
“That confidence I am certain and I’m confident will be displayed or transferred also to the general election because I could not ask for such better confidence, that I could make such a great difference in the referendum, so the FNM looks forward to the difference I would make for the general election, getting the PLP out.”
Dr Minnis’ comments comes as he faces threats to his leadership, with six parliamentarians recently threatening to seek his removal as leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament if he failed to call an early convention.
His comments about Mrs Butler-Turner yesterday represented a shift in the way he responds to criticism from fellow FNM members as he usually avoids giving a direct response.
His comments come as Mrs Butler-Turner weighs whether to challenge him for leadership of the party at a convention to be held in late July.
Nonetheless, Dr Minnis continued to avoid expressing a definite position on the referendum or to say how he voted.
“What happen, you got wax in your ears or something?” he quipped when pressed on the matter.
“I’ve always thought that a vote should remain private,” he said before adding that he will vote for himself in the Killarney constituency during the next general election.
“I’ve always believed in women’s equality. I expressed my views in Parliament and if you read what I said, I said the vote here today is for the referendum to be taken out to the people so they can have their say and I advised them that they should be properly knowledgeable on the issues, attend any meeting or gathering possible so they would be well versed on the issue, then vote their conscience because the decisions they make will be the decisions for tomorrow.”
Dr Minnis expressed confusion at the anger some Bahamians felt over the “no” result.
“They voted their conscience so I must respect the vote of the people,” he said. “I don’t understand why people are upset because the people voted one way or another. We must accept what the people voted for. Not all of us get what we want. When they voted for the PLP in 2012, I was not happy, but I accepted it. What’s the big deal with not accepting what the people say? Whether I like it or not I must accept what they say.”
Comments
Economist 8 years, 6 months ago
The position of Leader of the Opposition carries weight and responsibility. Your lack of engagement and this response to LBT remarks graphically shows how little you understand about your duties.
Nonconformist 8 years, 6 months ago
His response to Loretta was a long time coming. Secondly If you have a problem with what Dr. Minnis told the people you are a fascist. That was the best answer a Leader could tell the people he SERVES. Educate yourself on the issues and then vote the way you feel.
licks2 8 years, 6 months ago
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. . . . . .my old mar does call that: "he gat they waters on". He don't need to do a dang thing. . .LBT is doing all the work for him. . .and lame comments like this one make her less relevant. . .why answer her. . .for what. . .why waste the time. . .just move on to the real battle!! Let yinna stay right there carrying on like Andros yard chickens them. . .we want to see the big fight. . .July rumble! Lol!
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 6 months ago
Forget voting monitors, we need monitors for how Minnis goes about getting fresh fish delivered to his home! Minnis, as a dishonest and incompetent politician with absolutely no leadership skills whatsoever, has fractured the FNM party into smithereens and left it deprived of funding from many of its past financial backers. Christie and the PLP are banking on those FNM Council members who unwisely continue to support Minnis to secure a big win for the PLP in the next general election. Minnis is truly Christie's "ace in the hole" as can be seen by from that sly grin on Christie's face whenever Minnis opens his mouth as leader of the opposition and FNM party.
Economist 8 years, 6 months ago
Well said.
Honestman 8 years, 6 months ago
"Dr Minnis expressed confusion at the anger some Bahamians felt over the “no” result."
Well let me make it simple for you Dr. Minnis. Many Bahamians are angry that women's rights have once again been trampled on because politicians on both sides of the political spectrum have used the 2002 and 2016 referenda to score political points instead of showing true leadership and putting the national interest first. LBT is 100% right in her condemnation of you. Once again you completely failed a test of leadership. How can you persuade the electorate that you are a Prime Minister in waiting when you behave exactly like the PLP????
licks2 8 years, 6 months ago
The numbers show that the majority of the voters thought doc was right on. . .and LBT was wrong! And LBT did not. . .she was "ramming" the thing down the bellies of the people. . .JUST LIKE THE PLP! Lol! LBT better get some better PR persons cause yinna here doing more harm to her than helping her. . .Lol!
Honestman 8 years, 6 months ago
Minnis didn't say how he voted so how could voters think he was "right on"?
licks2 8 years, 6 months ago
Hubert Ingraham did not tell what he voted also! Heck. . .the plumber did not tell me what he voted. . .they have a right to tell you or not. I would not tell ya either if ya asked me such a question. . .he already told the nation how he voted in the house!! The outside vote is his own! So if one did not vote yes they are not right? How do you account for the vast amount of trained lawyers who differ. . .including the former CJ!
I would have told yinna to get from "round me picking sin" the old folks would say! Don't yall think it strange that every political party "ganging up" on doc? Moss, LBT, PLP, tribune, guardian. . .and doc getting more relaxed and laughing at them! Yinna gat it so bad that the tribune only will print posts from LBT cheering section on this sight it seems! Yall are not making much sense to joe public! For example, the letter of complaint put out in public to say why doc must go only served to make LBT and six look like entitled and spoiled brats. . .because the letter comforted peoples minds about doc's behavior. . .yall made us wonder if he is all yinna were saying about him! But I remember when I saw the letter I said to myself. . .is that it? They making doc look better to plenty of us. . .that's all they have on him? Child please! Lol!
EasternGate 8 years, 6 months ago
LBT should not have criticized Minnis on this emotive issue. Let the public do that. I am sure she lost more votes than she would get at convention because of this
Nonconformist 8 years, 6 months ago
Only people that Failed were the Yes vote and the Government for not probably educating the population. No one could have changed the results of this referendum. You set that sit on the Tribune and blame Minnis for all the ills of the world are just pathetic. It's the PMs job as he is the Leader of the Nation to champion this cause. Whiles I'm sadden that vote directly affects children to say this is solely about women right is just asinine and disingenuous. Stop making women out to be second class citizens in the Bahamas. Woman are at the top in our society and are pretty much the ones shaping the minds of our youths.
Minnis was the only one acting like a leader. He did the right thing. You people are fascist, had the Government been trustworthy number 1 and 3 would have most definitely pass.
TalRussell 8 years, 6 months ago
Comrades if I have any criticism heading Minnis's way it would be - what in hell took you so long put Long Island's Loretta to the test - can she take it from her party's leader the way she so delights in dishing out?
The referendum didn't go her yellow t-shirt way and what is first thing she does. Attack her own party's leader who defeated her at convention 290 to 108 votes..
And, don't forget to deal as swiftly with the two red MP "Rebels Without A Cause, Chippie and Richard if they start with their Loretta crap.
Comrade Sister Loretta, the July convention you wanted so damn badly, ain't going be no soft ride for you. It going be a far cry from any convention you have ever attended. She going be rough, really rough.
Your UBP's $500 thousand to assemble convention delegates is going to be a major financial failure. The kinds no Bay Street Boy have ever experienced.
Honestman 8 years, 6 months ago
Ha,ha....the PLP is running scared of LBT. You can tell that they are really panicking that Minnis will be replaced when their chief Tribune propagandist blogger Tal is forced to churn out this rubbish.
TalRussell 8 years, 6 months ago
Comrade Honestman's, you do understand tis not I but one of Loretta's very own red shirts and a high profile one at that, who has gone public to firmly 'named' the UBP wing of the party for orchestrating the paying the way to Nassau Town, for all the out island convention delegates to unseat Minnis? We are talking airfare, hotel, food, etc, etc.
How can you not see this as a most serious 500 Thousand Dollars accusation that has not been denied, even though some were publicly called-out as the lead players?
Are you suggesting the red member is a liar?
licks2 8 years, 6 months ago
They are afraid of LBT. . .but joking "nails in doc every chance they get. . .telling us he can't lead. . .he can't talk good. . .would you think they should be doing that to LBT if they were afraid of her and not the doc. Check this out! LBT, BBBR, PC and Moss. . .jooking the poor man in every hole on his body. So are you saying the PLP want him gone for the best interests of the Bahamian people also? So that's why they are joining LBT in ganging up on the doc too. . .to get him gone? Now I een know if I just can't understand too good. . .this just een making no sense fer me!
Publius 8 years, 6 months ago
POS he is
John 8 years, 6 months ago
The NO vote was more a vote against the government than anything else. The electorate does not trust this government. They feel the need for payback. They wanted their voices to be heard and because the referendum was so clouded in suspicion they voted NO. They still will have opportunities to change the constitution and when they have the confidence of the government, they will do so. As a point Minni's constituency had some of the highest numbers in favor of the 'yes' vote. So Butler-Turners argument does not compute.
Economist 8 years, 6 months ago
Minnis constituency has a large educated professional and enlightened population. A large number have either worked, studied or travelled overseas.
They are confident of who they are and know that they can compete because they have done so. They can vote Yes without fear.
The only other constituency that comes close is Montague.
That type of voter is able to be rational and understand what the consequences of a No vote will ultimately have for the country.
Greentea 8 years, 6 months ago
Yes Economist, that is the ultimate difference in the four areas that approved at least one of the bills- educated professional class and enlightenment. I know lots of people in this demographic who don't live in these areas and they voted yes as well. While plenty middle class people also voted against them for religious or professional reasons(doctors- that's whole different story) the vote was definitely split along class/education lines. The dumbing down of the Bahamian population by the political class- many of whom who voted yes- since independence has been a sad and total success.
licks2 8 years, 6 months ago
You just don't have an idea what happened do you? This classist thinking is what got the referendum thrown back in the faces of yes worker who posited this type of classist mind-set! The demographic in question did not even come to a 50/50 split. . .so most in these areas are not rational and un-enlightened as well aye? You ever thought that some persons in those areas. . .because they have/had money to send their kids away to those "lands" where they can meet and have children with persons from those lands and thus have an "emotive" stake in the yes being adapted. . .just as the masses who did not find it "germane" to their emotive existence. . .except when it came to their nation and their religion. . . and they circled the wagons to protect those things. . .in an emotive state!
Subsequently, it becomes imperative therefore, that you must remember that persons with emotional reasons for the yes vote to pass live in those very areas. . .those areas did not approved the yes vote! So both demographics. . .and the majority in those upper crust areas and other areas voted NO! Keep in mind that you assume the majority in those "other" areas are uneducated, un-enlightened and nonprofessionals according to your reasoning strategy. . . because the majority did vote NO! So by your own reasoning strategy the outcome of the vote in the upper class areas could not collapse along the line of educated professionals who are enlightened as apposed to uneducated, unenlightened nonprofessionals who voted on pure emotive rather than rational reasons? Because the areas of notice majority voted NO too! You have to agree that the vote result appear to be more along emotive reasoning for both demographic. . .you do say that you know more persons than not in those areas who are typical in enlightenment faculty voted in an unenlightened way! Therefore, you reasoning is at minimum fallacious and unenlightened at best! So according to your reasoning. . .we can assume that you live somewhere in the ghetto aye. . .and thus is uneducated. . .unenlightened and nonprofessional and most definitely have voted no! Lol!
Baha10 8 years, 6 months ago
This is all about a 20+ year Population with a "D" Average that is incapable of rational thought, much less amicable dispute resolution, hence reoccurring murder count and inability to solve the other problems facing this Nation, so to ask it to address issues of human advancement such as equality is regrettably impossible for such an ignorant populace, to such an extent that the majority of voters were Women, who voted against their own advancement!
John 8 years, 6 months ago
By your rationale then the reverse is also true and logical: Most Bahamians do not travel, live abroad, have foreign spouses or children with foreigners and so then there is no real benefit in the proposed changes to the constitution for them. And whether it is real or imagined they feel threatened by giving more powers to foreigners and even changing a law that, even while it may not allow for same sex marriages in the Bahamas, eventually persons who are married to same sex partners will have to be recognized as married couples when the visit the Bahamas. Be it in the hotels, in the casino, when they are on the beach, renting jet skis or hiring a taxi. Bahamian police will be mandated to protect them.. that is what it is and this vote will come around again, probably in another form, and maybe even sooner than the others simply because of the 6 million tourists that visit every year and a number of them will be affected by this bill.
TalRussell 8 years, 6 months ago
Comrades, Loretta can prime her destructive leadership pump until the cows come home, but it won't get no convention delegates votes flowing for her. If anything her 108 votes have dwindled downward by 68.4%. There can be no logical excuse why she would praise the PM's role in the referendum while accusing her own party's leader for its failure. I believe Loretta exhibits poor leadership and just maybe she thinks the PLP's "Vote YES" yellow t-shirt is a fashion statement. That yellow better matches anything red you can wear. You can wear it with any outfit and goes with all decors.
Grandpa Milo gotta be all smiles. His Angel buddies gonna thinks, he gone contracted yellow jaundice.
birdiestrachan 8 years, 6 months ago
Minnis nor the Reverends had anything to do with how I voted. I do not know why they should try to take credit. for the no vote.
sheeprunner12 8 years, 6 months ago
Personally ............ I think that less than five MPs who sit in the House of Assembly should be re-nominated for the 2017 election ........... and none of that five include any two-term MPs ....... the Bahamian people should make a clean sweep of its Legislature to allow for a new post-Pindling generation of leaders to take the REINS of government ....... that is what I will be voting for in 2017
licks2 8 years, 6 months ago
Sound like a good plan to me. . .truly a good plan!
birdiestrachan 8 years, 6 months ago
Economist why insult the Bahamian people by saying that persons from the arrears you mentioned are more educated. You will do well to learn that persons can be taught. but education is not common sense. wisdom can not be taught it is a gift. and the Bahamas is in need of more wise people. and less educated fools.
Economist 8 years, 6 months ago
Yes Birdie, the No voters clearly exhibited the lack of wisdom in this country. Thank you for pointing that out.
licks2 8 years, 6 months ago
Perhaps. . .the yes votes are the ones that got it wrong?
licks2 8 years, 6 months ago
Birdie. . .the economist thinks like an elitist-classist. . . HIGH PROBILITY A POLITICIAN. . . their activities in the HOA and else where show that they are not usually ya sharpest knives in the draws. . . but enough wind to fill a blimp!! Lol! Just watch that group "mantra" on this site. . .no room in their heads for any other opinion than their own!! Why you think that Doc Minnis "beating them up all over the place". . .HE KILLS THEM WITH STREET SMARTS AND COMMON SENSE!! THEM AND THEIR EDUCATION AND ALL!!
sheeprunner12 8 years, 6 months ago
Who are Hubert Minnis' top (ten) advisors?????? ........... would someone care to identify them (so we can take them for some psychological help)??????????
killemwitdakno 8 years, 6 months ago
Well FNM's getting that full convention they asked for. Be sure he doesn't divert it. Don't go back in your crab holes. Don't underestimate the same illogical groups behind him that was the no vote.
He's a mess. A frightening mess. Not the one to run the country.
Stands behind Munroe who went out of his way to ensure the marital rape allowance. Horrifying. http://m.tribune242.com/news/2013/dec/1…
SP 8 years, 6 months ago
.............................................. Two faced Minnis is a "CANOE" ....................................
He can go either way depending on the wind, day, hour, minute and most popular conversation at the time.
A faction of woman controlling BLT propping her up to push for leader. BLT is the demagogue behind the scenes constantly agitating her to push for leader!
BLT failed measurably as minister of social services and would fail as leader. BLT needs MUCH more diet coke!
killemwitdakno 8 years, 6 months ago
WRONG Minnis.. If you're constituency voted against your view.. they won't be voting for you.. which means you don't have a seat..duh.
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