The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement leader Michael Pintard said the only people who can communicate the direction of the FNM on national issues are himself and those the party selects to convey messages that are agreed upon by the party and its parliamentary caucus.

 Although Mr Pintard never alluded to his predecessor, former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, observers were quick to note Dr Minnis has continued to appear in the media and share his views on national affairs, even at times contradicting Mr Pintard.

 Earlier this month, for instance, Dr Minnis called on the Davis administration to implement travel restrictions for travellers coming from countries in Africa affected by the Omicron variant of COVID-19 while Mr Pintard called a travel ban unfair.

 Dr Minnis has repeatedly said the Davis administration should not let Christmas Carnival events happen this year. However, Mr Pintard yesterday said the government should be guided by science on the issue.

 Mr Pintard said: “One of the questions persons ask and I intend to answer very candidly (is), who will speak about our position? I want to say clearly that former parliamentarians, Cabinet ministers, chairpersons, whether boards of corporations and other authorities or other team members, will from time-to-time correct distortions about our record by PLP operatives and will also share about our past motivations or intentions and put forth some of the crucial decisions that have been made.

 “However, the new direction of the FNM will be communicated by me as leader and by our spokespersons who will communicate to the public the message agreed upon by our parliamentary caucus and the party caucus.”

 His comments came during a press conference at the FNM’s headquarters.

 After a reporter noted Dr Minnis’ continued absence from FNM events and his recent comments in the media, Mr Pintard said the FNM is unified, both at the parliamentary level and more broadly.

 “We just came out of a one-day convention where the three contestants are absolutely united in our resolve to work seamlessly with each other and support each other, who accepted the results of the election and their teams accepted the result and we’re all working in tandem with each other,” he said.

 “In the parliamentary caucus, absolutely, today a couple of our members are travelling. Obviously, you know a lot of events are coming for (the) end of the year, (people) have to pick up items, we have Kwasi Thompson and Iram Lewis who are not present, but send apologies. But we’re absolutely united.

 “Of course, in the aftermath of a change of leadership, members who held positions previously, I think they have an obligation to protect the record of the administration that they served in, that’s natural. What they do not have the ability to do is to determine the direction going forward. We want to make that absolutely clear and so we have no difficulty in members of the caucus correcting any distortions that others may have of our record or our motivations for putting legislation or policy in place and we fully expect all of our members under my management do the same thing they did under the former leader’s management, exercise discipline in their communications.”

 Most recently, Dr Minnis got the headlines when he said on Sunday that it was a mistake for the Davis administration to remove the requirement for Bahamian citizens and visitors to have a travel visa to return home after international trips.