The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Former Free National Movement Cabinet Minister Desmond Bannister’s calls for a convention in a recent letter to the FNM leadership team is a repeat of the Loretta Butler-Turner faction’s calls for a convention during the tumultuous tenure of Dr Hubert Minnis as Opposition leader in 2016. Everyone knew what were the underlying motives behind the calls for Minnis to go to convention. The Gang of Six were deeply dissatisfied with Minnis’ leadership and several of them were behind the push for Butler-Turner to replace him as leader. At the time, FNMs were led to believe that whatever the results would be in the highly anticipated convention would put to rest the revolt against Minnis.

A convention, we were led to believe, would finally settle the issue of leadership within the FNM once and for all. That did not happen. In the 2014 convention, Minnis would gain 298 votes to Butler-Turner’s 106. In the 2016 convention, however, the Butler-Turner and Dr Duane Sands team bowed out of the race after it became clear that they were going to lose in convincing fashion. Even though FNM delegates overwhelmingly voted to retain Minnis as Opposition leader, the Butler-Turner faction still went ahead and sidestepped the electoral process within the 2016 convention by removing Minnis via a constitutional provision. It was Butler-Turner’s last resort in accomplishing what FNM convention delegates refused to give to her. While the utilisation of the Westminster system worked in demoting Minnis in the House of Assembly as Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition Leader, it did nothing to alter his role as the democratically elected leader of the FNM. Judging by the overwhelming endorsement of Minnis coupled with the lack of support for the former Long Island MP in the 2016 convention, it was obvious to the Bahamian people that Butler-Turner had overestimated her popularity within the FNM. Her calls for a convention that year were really her stating to FNMs to elect her as Minnis’ replacement. The fact that she would orchestrate the removal of Minnis as Opposition leader in the House of Assembly tells me that it wasn’t really about holding a convention that was her main concern. It was about replacing Minnis as FNM leader. Had convention delegates yielded to her wishes, there wouldn’t have been any need to engage former Governor General Dame Marguerite Pindling. Removing Minnis was a pyrrhic victory for Butler-Turner, as that earth shattering move would seal her political fate in Minnis’ FNM. The situation today regarding FNM Leader Michael Pintard is eerily similar.

All of a sudden, a narrative within the FNM has developed that says that Pintard is opposed to the idea of going to convention for fear of losing his leadership post to Dr. Minnis. This is what I am starting to sense coming out of the Minnis camp. It would appear that the Minnis camp is utilizing the same political playbook that the Butler-Turner camp used in its protracted fight with Minnis. What the Minnis camp is saying about Pintard today is nearly identical to what the Butler-Turner camp was saying about Minnis between 2014 and 2017. Minnisites have even gone as far as comparing the current situation with Minnis with that of former FNM Leaders Hubert Ingraham and Tommy Turnquest between 2002 and 2005. Those who lobbied for the return of Ingraham argued that the FNM could not win with Turnquest. Ingraham had led the party to two consecutive general election wins in 1992 and 1997. The Minnis camp feels the same way about their candidate of choice, although it has to be reiterated that the 2017 general election was highly unusual. It was the first time a sitting prime minister would lose his seat, which is almost unheard of in western democracies. Moreover, the general sentiments among the Bahamian voting population towards Ingraham in 2005 is vastly different from what it is today towards Minnis in 2023. While Ingraham was still somewhat popular in 2005, Minnis -- several years removed from the protracted COVID-19 lockdowns -- is still very unpopular among young voting Bahamians, many of whom are still nursing a grudge against his administration for restricting their freedoms. Unfortunately for Minnis, the youth demographic seems to be under the impression that The Bahamas was the only country in the Western hemisphere that enforced curfews during the height of the pandemic. COVID-19 coupled with Hurricane Dorian had traumatized tens of thousands of Bahamians. It would’ve been a miracle for the FNM under Minnis to retain ten seats in the 2021 electoral exercise.

Additionally, Ingraham had a very cordial relationship with the press; is articulate; was a master politician who could speak extemporaneously and was one of the best political orators in his generation, having learned from Sir Lynden O Pindling, perhaps the greatest political orator this country has ever seen. Whenever the FNM holds its next convention, you can rest assured that in the event Pintard manages to stave off a Minnis comeback, he will still face stiff opposition from the Minnis camp. Already having the FNM leadership bogged down in a frivolous litigation, they will continue to fight Pintard every step of the way. The FNM leader is currently tasked with two responsibilities; fending off the Minnis camp while having to fulfill his role as Opposition leader. The current dilemma is untenable. I do not foresee a scenario in which the two camps will be able to galvanise with Pintard at the helm, for the simple reason that the Minnis camp seems unwilling to negotiate a political ceasefire or to recognize the FNM leader’s authority. You get the impression that these people view Pintard as being an interim leader. Accordingly, any complaints about Pintard’s inability to galvanise the various factions is disingenuous. At this juncture it would seem that a convention in and of itself will not resolve the current conflict, unless Minnis emerges victorious.

Like the Butler-Turner faction, a convention is not what these people are really agitating for. What they really want is Dr Minnis being reinstalled as FNM leader.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama

December 6, 2023.