The Tribune

EDITOR, TheTribune.

FNM Leader Dr Hubert  Minnis and Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner can no longer logically coexist within the FNM party. If the January 25 edition of The Punch’s lead story concerning Butler-Turner allegedly hurling obscenities at FNM Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest in the House of Assembly is true, then it is time that the opposition’s hierarchy come to the sobering realisation that the relationship between Minnis and the Long Island MP has been ruptured beyond repair.

Any further talks of conciliation or appeasement between the two camps appear to be a complete waste of time, as their differences are irreconcilable.

Minnis, it appears, was at one time in his tenure as FNM leader was pally with Butler-Turner. Their once cohesive partnership is now incongruous, which has become detrimental for the FNM’s well being. Their relationship is as discordant as the relationship between Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin and his wife Anna in Leo Tolstoy’s classic novel ‘‘Anna Karenina.’’ In the novel, Anna abandons her husband for the dashing Count Vronsky - an adulterous dalliance which led to tragic results.

I wholeheartedly believe that Butler-Turner and her camp will leave no stone unturned in sabotaging any effort put forward by the FNM under Minnis in recapturing the government next year. Odd as this may seem, the Butler-Turner camp would more rather see Prime Minister Perry Christie and the PLP win the general election than Minnis, based on the sheer inundation of letters to the newspapers which are very demeaning and condescending towards Minnis and Turnquest. Many within the Butler-Turner camp are members of the establishment whose navel strings are buried deep in either Pindling’s PLP or the UBP. These people have been enjoying the fat of the land for decades and view anyone who is not a part of their elite clique with jaundiced eyes.

Minnis, on the other hand, is an insurgent, populist politician, who connects well with the disenfranchised masses. Minnis has far more in common with this demographic than with the snobbish, uppity folks who are scared stiff of having the status-quo disrupted.

Minnis, to my knowledge, has never been a PLP like Butler-Turner, whose grandfather was the first Bahamian governor-general under the Pindling regime. He is quintessentially an FNM. Nor does he have a rapport or affinity with the white knights who have been for years the financial benefactors of the FNM. Minnis is not pandering to these people, so they want him removed as leader.

I find it odd that the Butler-Turner faction of the FNM and the PLP are opposed to Minnis?

Why is this? The common people know exactly what is going on. They are well aware that a powerful clique of FNMs and PLPs share the common goal of destroying Minnis’ political career, with the view of maintaining the status-quo.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, GB

January 25, 2016.