The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

IN what can be seen as evidence of a continued rift within the Free National Movement, a party insider alleged yesterday that there was an “underhanded” move unfolding inside the opposition to oust former election candidates who are a part of the party’s Central Council and replace them with new hopefuls to “stack the odds” in favour of leader Dr Hubert Minnis.

The former council member, who requested anonymity, explained that tonight when the party holds its Executive Committee meeting followed by a Central Council meeting, it is expected that an announcement will be made that old candidates will be asked to leave the council while several new candidates will be announced.

Many in the party, the insider insisted, only learned of this proposed move in a letter recently penned by a sitting council member, who felt the need to speak out after receiving an email explaining that 2012 candidates were no longer welcomed in the council.

According to the insider, the agendas of both meetings have been kept secret, which is viewed as a “nefarious” plan by Dr Minnis who “is doing all he can” to prevent the FNM from holding a convention for fear that he might not be re-elected as leader.

Attempts to contact Dr Minnis and the party’s Secretary General Michael Foulkes were not successful up to press time.

When contacted by The Tribune last night, other insiders who seemed indifferent over the issue confirmed that certain failed candidates who were on the FNM’s ticket during the last general election were being removed from the council. However, this move was the result of a motion previously agreed to several years ago, The Tribune was told, and not a plot by the party’s leadership.

According to the FNM’s constitution, any election candidate “who is not otherwise a council member shall be accorded membership for one calendar year after a general election or until a new candidate is selected.”

However, questioning the impetus for the move, the angry FNM asked why the party could not wait until after convention to select its slate of election contenders, as any new leader might not be comfortable running alongside Dr Minnis’ choices.

In a letter sent to The Tribune yesterday, the disheartened FNM lamented the current trajectory of the party saying under the stewardship of a “terrifyingly incapable” leader, all the party has worked so hard for over the years was rapidly slipping away.

Since Dr Minnis took over the reigns of the party, the FNM member insisted, there has been an alarming trend toward evasiveness and disingenuousness in the FNM’s dealings.

“His failings are by now well known to all: his total inability to hold the PLP to account for any of their countless transgressions, his uncanny ability to make (Prime Minister) Perry Christie actually look competent in parliamentary debate, his poor to non-existent public relations skills, his notorious feud with the English language, and his complete lack of resonance with the public at large,” the letter said.

“Since Minnis took the helm, there has also been an alarming trend towards evasiveness and disingenuousness in the party’s dealings. Thus, we see the removal of a well-liked senator (Heather Hunt), on the excuse that the FNM has a two-year rotation policy in the Upper Chamber – yet other senators appointed at the same time continue to sit for three years and more. We also see Minnis embroiled in a serious conflict of interest allegation, where all his efforts to extricate himself only seem to dig the hole even deeper.

“There have also been a series of deplorable moves to compromise the party’s internal democratic process in an effort to stack the deck in Minnis’ favour and ensure he retains leadership – regardless of what the party faithful and the public at large may think. Placing personal interests above those of party and country is a tactic that belongs to the PLP. It has no place in the FNM.”

“Yet we have seen several ‘Mingdomite’ appointees of questionable suitability for their positions – most notably one who is personally close enough to the leader to raise serious eyebrows over the choice. Again, ‘Friends, family and lovers’, is supposed to be the mantra of the governing party.”

“Minnis’ latest attempt to suborn the democratic process of the FNM for his own selfish ends may well mark the beginning of the end for us. It is a betrayal of the principles of the party’s founding fathers.

“Minnis must know he is but a flickering candle in the enormous shadow cast by giants like Cecil Wallace-Whitfield, Kendal Isaacs and Hubert Alexander Ingraham. In his hand, the bright torch of freedom has become a stale, smouldering pile of ashes,” the insiders continued.

The FNM insider further pointed to a “cynical” attempt to stave off an internal leadership challenge by the “arbitrary” recruitment of Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells and Fort Charlotte MP Andre Rollins last November.

This, the insider, said was a move that was in contravention of party protocol and may yet come to bite the party where it hurts.

• See letter — page 11.