By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

DEMOCRATIC National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney yesterday refuted “unbalanced social media reports” which he said insinuated that the party was losing supporters and members.

Firing back at claims that suggested that the party was losing support due to the departure of candidates, Mr McCartney insisted that those sentiments are nothing more than a “fallacy.”

His comments came after Delano Munroe, one of the former party’s proposed candidates, on Friday announced his resignation from the DNA.

However, DNA Chairman Andrew Wilson in a statement yesterday denied that Mr Munroe had resigned. Instead, he claimed, the party asked Mr Munroe to step down from his various positions in the party and not seek a nomination ahead of the 2017 general election due to alleged misuse of party funds.

Mr Wilson said: “During the last election, Delano Munroe was selected by the party as one of the 38 candidates; however, amid allegations of theft and a pending trial he was asked not to run.”

In October 2012, Mr Munroe was cleared by a magistrate of allegations of stealing more than $15,000 from the Junior Achievement Programme, which had employed him for more than a decade.

“Early on in the party’s candidate selection process for the 2017 general elections, Munroe again made his interest known and had requested to be considered as the party’s standard bearer in the Golden Gates constituency,” Mr Wilson added.

However the DNA chairman alleged that Mr Munroe was asked to withdraw his name from the candidate selection process over alleged misuse of funds from a constituency association. Mr Wilson also accused him of also trying to discredit the DNA’s impact.

Asked about the claims on Sunday, Mr McCartney suggested that the matter in question referred to the alleged misuse of funds by the Golden Gates branch of the party, which at that time was headed by Mr Munroe.

He added that once investigations into the matter were concluded, it was determined that the Golden Gates branch should reimburse the party for funds lost during the matter.

Mr McCartney said he instructed Mr Munroe to return the funds by 5pm on the day in question.

When contacted by The Tribune yesterday, Mr Munroe denied any wrongdoing over the matter.

He said the allegation stemmed from an agreement to order shirts between two constituency branches of the party.

Mr Munroe alleged that after the agreement “fell through,” he and members of the constituency association were asked by the party to return refunds at a set time.

“Funds were received on Wednesday, October 28, at 4pm for shirts they wanted for the weekend, October 31,” he said.

He said due to certain circumstances the shirts couldn’t be purchased and the funds had to be returned.

“A cheque for $291 was written, dated the sixth of November and sent to the powers that be. They wanted (the money) and we in Golden Gates did what they asked,” Mr Munroe said.

Mr McCartney yesterday confirmed that the matter was resolved and the funds repaid.

Additionally, the former Bamboo Town MP said he is amazed by the attention paid to former DNA candidates once they leave the party.

“I don’t get it,” he said. “Karen (Davis), Rodney Moncur, Nicolas Jacques – these are people I respect. When they were with us they were laughed at by people – by the FNM, but now they are the greatest thing since sliced bread?”

Still Mr McCartney said that many of the persons that have left the party in recent months have been “rejected candidates”.

“The bottom-line is that they didn’t get the nominations from the DNA. That’s the truth of the matter. We want the best persons in the DNA. We want persons that Bahamians would want in the government,” he stated.

Earlier this month the Free National Movement announced that Karen Davis, the DNA’s candidate for the Marathon constituency in 2012, had joined the party.

In September, lawyer Wayne Munroe, QC, joined the Progressive Liberal Party. Mr Munroe ran as the DNA’s candidate for the Mount Moriah constituency in the last general election.

Mr Munroe told The Tribune shortly after his move to the PLP that back in 2011 he agreed to run as the DNA’s Mt Moriah candidate as a favour to Mr McCartney, who was his childhood friend.

Despite these defections, Mr McCartney said the DNA remains steadfast in its quest to become the next government of the Bahamas.

He noted that the party has continued to grow since its formation in 2011, adding that the DNA will “definitely contest the next election with a full slate of candidates.”

He added: “Candidates that Bahamians want and trust.”

The DNA did not win any House of Assembly seats in the 2012 election. Mr McCartney, the only DNA member in the House, also lost his seat in that election.

However, the party did capture the most votes in Bahamian history for a third party.