By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FNM chairman Darron Cash yesterday confirmed that he has not resigned from the party in the wake of media reports that he threatened to quit.

Both FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis and Mr Cash were tightlipped yesterday when asked about media reports that Mr Cash has threatened to resign as chairman because of his differing views from Dr Minnis on the webshop legalisation issue.

The Nassau Guardian claims that not only did Mr Cash threaten to resign because of the issue during an FNM executive committee meeting on Monday, but a memo he wrote urged the committee “to return to (the party’s) original position on gambling and publicly support the government’s planned decision to bring web shops legally into the mainstream of our economy.”

“I did not send a letter,” Mr Cash said when asked yesterday about the memo. He declined to comment further on the matter.

Last week, he told The Tribune that in his personal view, the government should make the “tough decision” to move forward with bipartisan discussions on web shops because shutting them down should no longer be an option.

When contacted yesterday and asked about Dr Cash’s alleged threat to resign if the FNM does not alter its position on webshop legalisation, Dr Minnis said: “I don’t discuss party business with anybody.”

He then reiterated his call for the government to respect the results of last year’s referendum.

“This whole issue about webshop this is not about webshops,” he said. “You can have a blank line and you can put webshop there, AD, CD, whatever you want to put there, it’s a blank space.

“But this is about democracy and dictatorship. This is about a referendum, this is about what the people said.

“If you want to change from what the people said, then seek a new mandate.

“You have to go back to the people, explain why you want to change, but the message you would send out into the world is that of a government bordering on dictatorship.”

“If you go to the people and the people say something, you don’t have the right, especially when you’re on record saying you will respect and follow through with the decision. You can’t go back on that.”