The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

FNM Senator Dr Duane Sands clarified yesterday that his resignation from the Senate in the event of a failed deputy leadership bid at the party’s national convention would be up to the discretion of incumbent FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis.

“It’s not a matter of necessarily leaving,” he told The Tribune.

“I think the principle would be that having engaged the leader that it should be his discretion. It’s not a matter that I’m seeking to resign or no longer work with him, it is simply a matter of acknowledging that I have opposed his leadership and the honourable thing to do is to seek to allow him the discretion to decide yes or no, ‘do I have the confidence in this person to continue to work with him?’

“It is my way of thinking and there are people who feel it’s not a reasonable approach but I think that is what an honourable person would do.”

Dr Sands replaced Lanisha Rolle when she resigned her Senate seat in mid-May after becoming embroiled in controversy over criticising fellow FNM MPs.

Earlier this week, he told The Tribune he was “amazed and confused” to be told that former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham had recommended his appointment for the past four years. Mr Ingraham made the revelation while speaking to reporters last week at Dr Sands’ swearing-in at the Senate.

Dr Sands said the delay to appoint him to the upper chamber, despite countless calls by “respected persons” within the party, shows that the organisation’s current leadership is not focused on putting the “best effort forward”.

Dr Sands is running for the post of deputy leader on a ticket with Loretta Butler-Turner, who will vie for leader, when the party elections take place at the end of July. They are challenging the incumbent leadership team of Dr Minnis and K Peter Turnquest.

It was earlier reported that as a guest on a radio talk show on Tuesday, Dr Sands said that if the present leaders were victorious at the convention he would step down from the Senate.

Yesterday, Dr Sands said: “The context was that there are several outcomes of the convention. Loretta wins, I win, Loretta wins and I lose and Peter Turnquest wins, Dr Minnis wins and Peter Turnquest wins, or Dr Minnis wins and I win. What I said was in the event that Dr Minnis wins and I lose, the honourable thing to do, having opposed him, would be to resign from the Senate.

“It is what a mature politician would do,” he added.

The FNM’s convention is scheduled for July 27 to 29.