EDITOR, The Tribune

FREE National Movement chairman Michael Pintard has either been left out in the cold by the party’s leadership or he is being less than straightforward with the Bahamian people.

Either way, his recent statements regarding the FNM’s Central Council are yet another stark indication of the utter chaos into which our beloved party has fallen.

Following my letter of January 7, in which I exposed the fact that a move was afoot to exclude former candidates from the Council in an effort to stack the odds in favour of current leader Hubert Minnis, the chairman categorically denied this was the case.

What then, are we to make of the following quote from a recent letter sent to all council members by FNM Secretary General Michael Foulkes?

“Please be reminded that Central Council passed a unanimous Resolution this year to not extend membership on Council to Candidates in the 2012 General Elections effective today, 31st December, 2015. If you are on council otherwise, naturally, you remain so.”

Pintard’s explanation to the press: “Yes a note was sent from the secretary general to former candidates reminding them of the outcome of the resolution which is the right of the secretary general, but I am saying as chairman who presides over the Council there will be no former candidate excluded. The process is simple, write the chairman as any other member can asking to participate and I will not refuse them an opportunity to be a part of this council.”

No matter how members of the leadership would seek to smooth it over, clearly there is a significant difference between the messages coming from the two Michaels. Certainly, the secretary general made no mention of former candidates writing to the chairman to keep their spot on the Council.

Did other members of the leadership keep their plan from Pintard? Did he know about it, but change his mind? Did he conveniently forget? What an utter mess for a party that used to pride itself on unity and co-operation.

I and many other FNMs sincerely wish the debacle over Council membership were the only recent indication that things have gone badly haywire under the misguided leadership of Hubert Minnis. But there is also the example of a Senator who is unacceptably close to Minnis making an absolute fool of herself - and by extension the party - at a public event to commemorate Majority Rule, where she referred to Barack Obama as a former leader of the opposition in the United States!

What an absolute embarrassment. It is almost beyond words. You have to laugh, just so you don’t cry.

I have said before that the move to pack the party hierarchy and parliamentary cohort with loyal ‘Minnisites’ is a tactic that belongs in the Progressive Liberal Party. That is not how the FNM is supposed to operate. We are supposed to be the party that elevates individuals according to their integrity and merit, not because of some perceived tribal loyalty.

The result of this shameful reversal of identity is clear: survival of the least fit. The dumbing-down of a once bright and astute party membership. Rank ignorance on display for all to see!

We can only hope that Minnis himself is at least aware there is no such thing as a leader of the opposition in the American system. That would not be a lot to ask. But then again, this fish seems to be conspicuously rotting from the head.

Over the past several months, party business has become more and more focused on the mad rush to protect Minnis’ leadership from all challenges, despite the fact that he is utterly unelectable and totally unsuited for the office of Prime Minister even if he were. As a result, the FNM is being turned into the “PLP Lite” - all the self-serving underhandedness and unapologetic idiocy, none of the public appeal.

His lack of resonance with the public is all down to Minnis himself. He is by far the worst leader in the history of the FNM when it comes to holding the PLP to account. And this while he has had the easiest job of all his predecessors! Christie and Co. 2.0 in my opinion would lose an integrity contest with the Italian mafia, yet Minnis cannot manage to make the PLP look bad.

Other members of his party, not to mention the Democratic National Alliance, are consistently quicker off the mark than Minnis and they make better points too. And, perhaps most fatal of all for the FNM’s election chances, the press is becoming increasingly frustrated after three years of attempting to quote a man who has utterly nothing of substance to say.

Yet still, Minnis will not back down. He will resist holding a convention and leadership contest with everything he has. Party insiders say this stems from a deep personal insecurity and need to prove that he is somebody important. Apparently the party and country, the fate of our children and grandchildren, must be sacrificed on the altar of this one man’s unbalanced ego - shades of the PLP yet again.

My fellow FNMs, it is with a heavy heart that I write this open letter as a call to arms. We simply must stand up and take our party back. We cannot continue to play Minnis’ silly game; there is too much at stake here for all Bahamians.

I call on all true FNMs to remember the principles that the party was founded on: democracy, transparency, accountability, fairness and justice. We must get back there. We must make a change in our leadership, before it is too late.

DISHEARTENED FORMER FNM COUNCIL MEMBER

Nassau,

January 13, 2016