The Tribune

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis is planning to extend his stay in the House of Assembly as an MP – and stirring up the prospect of a rift in the FNM in the process.

The party has been in the process of selecting its candidates for the next election – with FNM leader Michael Pintard saying that people had been “tapped on their shoulder to get in the field and compete”.

Dr Minnis jokingly noted that his shoulder remained resolutely untapped so far.

In addition, the party has set up mandatory training sessions for would- be candidates. Dr Minnis has not completed those.

If that sounds to you like the current leader and the former leader are not seeing eye to eye, it will not exactly be breaking news.

Dr Minnis did, after all, challenge Mr Pintard for the leadership of the party at the last convention – and there have been long rumblings of discontent between the pair.

The stage is now set for a possible confrontation – over whether Dr Minnis is selected to run, and if he is not, whether he will run against the FNM ticket.

Dr Minnis lost his leadership race by a sizeable margin – and lest we forget, he also lost the last election, again by a large amount.

His appetite for continuing as an MP remains undiminished, however, and when asked if he is confident about running under the party ticket, he said he answers to God and the people who guide him.

Party chairman Dr Duane Sands was blunt on the matter, saying: “I think we’ve been very clear about the qualifications for candidacy.”

It certainly does not seem as if all sides are pulling in the same direction. Watch this space.

Meanwhile, an advertisement in yesterday’s Tribune brought a response from the current prime minister, Philip Davis.

He posted to social media in the wake of the advertisement in yesterday’s edition – and it is of course only fair to publish his response.

He said: “I’ve been made aware of a political ad placed in today’s Tribune which appears to suggest a challenge to the Deputy Prime Minister’s position. To address this directly: the Deputy Prime Minister continues to have my full confidence and support as the Deputy Prime Minister and as the Deputy Leader of our party.”

Mr Davis added: “The innovative work he is doing to revitalise our tour- ism industry is central to our plans to expand our economy. The Minister of Energy and Transport is doing excellent work in her ministry, driving forward our country’s first nationwide, comprehensive energy reforms, to bring down electricity prices and strengthen our grid for reliability and resilience.

“Our Cabinet is working together as a team, united in purpose, tackling the hardest problems our country faces – problems that have been neglected for too long. We are focused on delivering results during difficult times. We have important work to do, and we’re doing it together.”