The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

FREE National Movement supporters who are firmly in the camp of former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis are all up in arms over the announcement that prospective candidates will all be vetted through a training module conducted by the party machinery. Days before a Nassau Guardian front page article about Progressive Liberal Party chair Fred Mitchell weighing in on the current situation within the FNM was published, certain FNMs had already expressed their concerns that FNM leader Michael Pintard and chairman Dr Duane Sands are using this initiative to jettison Minnis out of the FNM. Without an FNM nomination, Minnis’ political career would be effectively over. I cannot envisage any scenario in which the PLP top brass would extend an olive branch to the Killarney MP, owing to several unsuccessful political prosecutions under his administration. Minnis is persona non grata to the PLP. For a former FNM leader and former Prime minister to undergo a vetting process by individuals who were his former underlings would be humiliating.

If the aim of this vetting initiative is to remove Minnis from the FNM slate of candidates, this move would create a bloody mess within the party, leading to a split. Minnis gained 163 of the he 649 votes in the June 1 National Convention. Pintard got 486 votes. Based on the numbers, 25.12 percent of FNMs still have a soft spot for Minnis. This is, of course, if the convention figures are representative of the support among FNMs for both Pintard and Minnis. Minnis will not go down easily. If the Pintard and Sands administration is covertly purging the FNM of Minnisites, this will lead to the creation of another FNM, similar to the creation of the Free-PLP with Sir Cecil Wallace-Whitfield and the Dissident Eight.

Moreover, Minnis will most certainly run again in Killarney, taking away hundreds of FNM votes from the FNM candidate. This will either pave the way for a PLP win in that constituency or it will be Minnis’ fifth consecutive election win, dating back to 2007. Either way, I do not foresee an FNM victory in Killarney in the event Minnis is denied a nomination by the FNM executive council. In addition to either playing spoiler in Killarney or winning it outright, Minnis will also have an enormous impact on the overall outcome of the general election for the FNM, as a substantial minority of FNMs, who don’t view him as Pintard and Sands, will stay far away from the polling booths on election Day as a way of punishing the party.

Minnis would showcase a martyrdom complex as the independent candidate in Killarney, garnering sympathy from thousands of FNMs. Pintard will then, in the eyes of these FNMs, look insecure and dictatorial. Yes, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham had on numerous occasions purged the FNM of political “undesirables.” But by the time Ingraham began to play hardball with his FNM detractors in 2000, he had won two by-elections, in Marco City in 1990 and in South Andros in 1997, and two general elections, in 1992 and 1997. The Ingraham brand won elections. His naysayers were unable to dispute this. Pintard, on the other hand, has yet to lead the FNM to an election victory, which will make it extremely hard for him to silence his naysayers within the party.

They will continue to point to the West Grand Bahama and Bimini by-election. Granted, Minnis does appear to be very uncooperative with the Pintard regime. But he has already been badly beaten at convention. The delegates have spoken. There is really no need to take any steps which would deny him the opportunity to serve Killarney, as this would be an overkill. I believe the best course of action would be to leave that decision to the people of Killarney. If they don’t want him in 2026, then no one would be in a position to accuse the FNM leadership of undermining Minnis with a straight face. But to take this avenue in dealing with Minnis looks bad on too many levels, especially for a regime that has yet to have any electoral success. The Pintard and Sands administration will have to tolerate the Killarney MP.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama

September 9, 2024.