The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

ONE of the founding fathers of the Free National Movement has taken issue with remarks made by former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham over the weekend endorsing Elizabeth incumbent Dr Duane Sands.

On Saturday afternoon while hitting the campaign trail with Dr Sands in the Elizabeth constituency, Mr Ingraham told the media he hopes Dr Sands can win his seat and possibly go on to become Prime Minister one day.

“He is a good man that deserves to be elected,” Mr Ingraham said. “He’s had a similar experience I had. I used to be a minister before, I got fired, I got elected to the House, and I became prime minister. Hopefully, he can have the same experience.”

Mr Ingraham also appeared to have taken issue with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis calling an early election during the height of the pandemic with COVID-19 positive cases soaring. He said that action speaks for itself.

The Tribune reached out to the hierarchy of the FNM to seek a response on Mr Ingraham’s endorsement of Dr Sands. A member of the “Dissident Eight” who founded the FNM, Maurice Moore was not amused about Mr Ingraham’s endorsement. He described the remarks as reckless just before an election.

“The former Prime Minister is the former Prime Minister,” Mr Moore said. “He has one vote and I have one vote on the council. He doesn’t decide. He can go and speak for whomever he wants to, but I consider that not to be the advisable thing to do going into a general election.

“Why he wants to get up and say something like that at a time like this I don’t know. I am not interested in following up on what he has to say. It is really not fair to our Prime Minister Minnis, but it’s his opinion. He is entitled to do whatever he wants to do. I just don’t see it as being constructive for the party at this time.

“All the former Prime Ministers can say what they like, but in so far as being productive and addressing matters that affect the Bahamian people, none of them has done as much as our present Prime Minister has done for the development of our people and assisting our people at a very critical time in the life of the country.”

Mr Moore continued to express displeasure with Mr Ingraham’s remarks and said the party has only one leader.

“Why he would want to choose to say something that could be wrongly interpreted, I don’t know,” Mr Moore said. “That’s his opinion, not mine. Our party has one leader and that’s Dr Minnis. Nobody is perfect, but as far as I am concerned, he is doing an excellent job. He is addressing matters that affect the lives of our people.”

Asked if he felt he misinterpreted what Mr Ingraham said about Dr Sands being Prime Minister, as Mr Ingraham was likely expressing his thoughts about the 2026 general election, Mr Moore was not convinced.

“Well what other election could he mean?” he continued. “I don’t feel that way. I think he is thinking he would like to see Dr Sands as the Prime Minister now. That’s his personal opinion. What we ought to be doing now is closing ranks and supporting our Prime Minister who is doing an excellent job given the circumstances the country and our people are in.

“The election has now been called and we are hoping that everything goes well on the 16th. Reminiscing on that is not going to help us one way or the other now so I don’t think it is worth me commenting on it other than to say the election has been called and I hope and pray that our party wins and we are able to carry on the great work that is being done now by the government.”

The Tribune also reached out to FNM chairman Carl Culmer who was tightlipped on the subject.

“I have no comment at all on this at this time,” he said.

FNM treasurer Dwight Sawyer also spoke to The Tribune. Although he did not say much, he wanted to make it clear Mr Ingraham was still a “strong” supporter of the FNM.

“I have no comment on that at this particular moment,” said Mr Sawyer. “Right now I am focusing on winning an election. All I can say is that the former Prime Minister is still a strong FNM. He is in fact still a strong FNM in every sense of the word. That is all you need to find out. So there is nothing else to find out.”

Just weeks before the 2017 election, Mr Ingraham was called upon to boost momentum with party supporters by speaking at various rallies. While endorsing Dr Sands over the weekend, he was asked if he plans to do the same this time. He responded by saying he is not inclined to say yes if he is asked to assist that way.