The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Senator Dr Duane Sands said yesterday that he abandoned his ambitions to become the party’s deputy leader after Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner dropped out of the leadership race in July because the pair had been campaigning as a team.

He added that since then, the two decided to “participate in the process of rebuilding and making the FNM better.”

He said that a lot of people will have to “suppress their personal issues” if the party is to have a “chance at pulling this country out of this nose dive.”

He also said the FNM will release its national plan in 60 days, stressing that the party is “serious about running this country.”

“I think in life we all come to decisions based on our own view of a situation. I had a choice to make on that night and that choice was whether Duane Sands would go it alone or whether or not we would continue as a team,” Dr Sands said, while a guest on 96.9 FM talk show “The Revolution” with host Juan McCartney.

“We started as a team and the decision that was made by me based on consultation with a number of people was despite all of the thoughts to the contrary and all the thoughts positive, that we started as team, if one pulled out, we would both pull out.

“I think subsequent to that decision, we actually made significant headway in terms of discussion of some of the real challenges with the Free National Movement and making some positive headway in terms of healing. I think some of the things we are watching right now are a direct consequence of the ‘come to Jesus’ discussion that ensued after that Thursday night decision.”

In July, Mrs Butler-Turner announced hours before delegates were set to vote in the party’s convention that she and Dr Sands had dropped out of the leadership race. At the time, she said FNM Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest’s public rebuke of her during the second night of the convention was the final straw that prompted her to withdraw from the leadership race.

She said she had come to the realisation that the process was in fact full of some irregularities and deep structural problems. She also said the two concluded after “consultation and deep reflection, prayer and discernment” that they could not go forward “in good conscience with a process that proved undemocratic on a number of levels.”

Weighing in on the matter publicly for the first time, Dr Sands added: “…I think sometimes you have to literally dig very deep in terms of deciding what it is that you’re going to do, how strongly you feel it, decide whether or not you’re going to leave the Free National Movement, whether you’re going to try to rebuild the Free National Movement, etc.”

“And I think what we decided to do was to make it very clear in no uncertain terms what our concerns were and to participate in the process of rebuilding and making the Free National Movement better.”

He added: “Now don’t get me wrong--I have heard in some passionate tones, in some violent tones, a huge amount of Monday morning quarterback analysis of the events leading up to and after. Some of it was kind of filled in because people didn’t have information, and some of the information we’re not going to reveal.

“But I think where we are right now is trying to rid this country of what I believe to be the greater evil. And do I believe the (FNM) is perfect? Absolutely not. Do I believe that we can make it better? I believe that we can, and so this is where we are.”

He acknowledged that there “continues to be issues that have arisen.”

“There will always be controversy--I think politics remains a blood sport,” he said. “But I think when you look at the bigger picture, the question is are you throwing away your own principle position?

“…Right now I’m moving forward. A lot of people are going to have to suppress their personal issues. And I think if we all do that, we may have a chance at pulling this country out of this nose dive.”

Later in the show, Dr Sands said the FNM would be releasing its national plan within the next 60 days. He said the party will “work assiduously” to get its positions in writing.

“We are serious about running this country, criticism is criticism and we have to accept that,” Dr Sands said. “I believe in speaking the truth, admitting our weaknesses, but we will fix this and move on.”

The FNM’s convention was held from July 27-29 at the Melia Nassau Beach Hotel.