The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE FREE National Movement (FNM) announced the ratification of six more candidates for the upcoming general elections last night with leader Dr Hubert Minnis revealing that the full slate of 39 candidates will be announced at the end of the week.

Scores of party supporters gathered at the Mackey Street headquarters for the conclusion of a Central Council meeting following which FNM Chairman Sidney Collie announced Navarro Bowe, Howard ‘Ricky’ Mackey, Hank Johnson, Darren Henfield, former FNM chairman Michael Pintard and FNM Deputy leader K Peter Turnquest as the candidates who would respectively contest Exuma and Ragged Island, North Eleuthera, Central and South Eleuthera, North Abaco, Marco City and East Grand Bahama.

Dr Minnis hailed them as excellent candidates and assured the crowd that the FNM team “was growing stronger day by day”. He also confirmed that their ratifications will be completed at the Torchbearers Conference on Thursday and Friday at the SuperClubs Breezes Resort where the new government of the Bahamas will be revealed.

“I am so pleased tonight to properly introduce five candidates for the upcoming general elections and five new members of parliament,” the Killarney MP said. “You have just listened and heard the voice of your next deputy prime minister. He’s presently acting as the Shadow Minister of Finance. Darren Henfield, from Abaco, is our standard bearer for North Abaco and Darren brings with him experience in the field of national security having served in the Royal Bahamas Defence Force for many years.

“His experience will be very important as we fight illegal migration, and better protect our borders from illicit drugs, poaching, gun smugglings and human trafficking. Darren, my fellow Bahamians, is also an attorney and served in the Office of the Attorney General.

“Michael Pintard needs no introduction. Hank Johnson, the next MP for (Central) and South Eleuthera, is an Eleutheran and he’s an electrician. We need him especially with all of these blackouts.”

Mr Mackey, Dr Minnis noted, is a Harbour Island native “who knows about doing business and he will assist us making the ease of doing business really easy”.

“Let me also say a brief word about Navarro Bowe, our candidate for Exuma (and Ragged Island). Navarro has considerable experience in the engineering field. He’s an engineer and the kind of talent we need to bring focus to an area like building the capacity of young people in science, technology, engineering and math.”

Dr Minnis said two major areas of investment for his FNM government will be education and youth development with a focus on “STEM education which stands for science, technology, engineering and math”.

Prior to Dr Minnis taking the stage, the supporters heard the candidates make passionate pleas for why they should ensure that they registered and voted in the upcoming elections. Mr Turnquest said “more now than ever, the risk is too great to return governance to the PLP”.

“They’re unfit to govern after derailing economic gains following the global economic recession which started to rebound in 2010,” he said.

“With poorly conceptualised, planned and controlled programmes, after overseeing a national debt of almost $7 billion, over $2 billion added in just the last four years and all of this despite Valued Added Tax which netted revenue of over $1 billion, a devastating sovereign credit rating and downgrade to junk status, something which has never happened in the history of our commonwealth. Yes Mr (Michael) Halkitis, we still want to know where the VAT money gone because the story you gave both at convention and on the radio today just is not adding up.”

Mr Pintard, who was made to resign from the Senate last year following his involvement to uncover a murder-for-hire plot which led to a lawsuit against Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard, thanked the Marco City FNM Association, his family and all who have stood with him since March, 2016.

“I’m still here standing with freedom fighters and we are still committed to the original mission of ushering in good governance,” Mr Pintard said.

The former chairman however cautioned that they will not be victorious in the upcoming elections “if we don’t turn to each other instead of against each other”.