By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

LONG Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner last night insisted that the Free National Movement (FNM) is at the “weakest” point in its history as she suggested the party’s current state was the result of poor leadership.

Speaking at a town hall meeting geared towards garnering the support of the party’s delegates, Mrs Butler-Turner focused heavily on Dr Hubert Minnis’ leadership shortcomings.

The former party deputy, who is challenging Dr Minnis for the party’s top post at the FNM convention later this month, sought to differentiate herself from the Killarney MP.

To make her case, she accused Dr Minnis of pretending he was sick in order to get out of debating the University of the Bahamas Bill last week, failing to intervene on behalf of Bahamians in a timely manner when the Baha Mar resort went into bankruptcy last year and not stepping up during debates to hold the government’s feet to the fire on troubling national issues among other things.

During her stinging attack on the party leader, she urged FNMs with voting power to consider who would make the strongest team to contest the 2017 general election and accused Prime Minister Perry Christie and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) of seeking to ensure the FNM is not strong.

An energetic and animated Mrs Butler-Turner also warned delegates of the “boogieman” and those who might attempt to bribe them for their votes as they head to convention on July 27 to 29. The party has 410 delegates who can cast votes.

“Why are we as a party not stronger? Why are we as a party not unified? There are some who will tell you we are not stronger because Loretta caused us to be weak,” she told the group of almost 50 who gathered at S C McPherson Junior High School last night.

“Well, let’s accept that Loretta caused us to be weak. (Well) Loretta is going to cause you to be strong now. There are those who will tell you that we do not defend or stand with the leader, but I have a picture that I want to remind you of. When we were being led out of the House of Assembly, I want to know who stood up and said don’t touch us?

“What happened when Loretta Butler-Turner said ‘let’s have a march on Rawson Square for all the homeowners that did not benefit from the Mortgage Relief Programme’? You know what happened? You want to talk about divided? The leader said I didn’t call for that so y’all don’t come out. I didn’t call for that so don’t worry about that. We aren’t having no march for y’all because if y’all get thrown out of your house we will deal with that another way and we have yet to deal with it.

“You see, when Baha Mar closed down and filed for bankruptcy, I was the one to stand up and say that Perry Christie is delusional (and) he is lying to the Bahamian people. I said to the Leader you better go talk to Christie. But when you finish talking to Christie I want you to talk to China Construction America and when you finish talking to CCA I want you to talk to the developers and then, Mr Leader, I want you to tell the FNM what we will do when we become the government to get Bahamians back to work.

“But he said to me ‘no, I don’t want talk to no Perry Christie’ and then the next week he missed the time. You need an FNM opposition now that is going to hold the feet of this inept government to the fire.”

Mrs Butler-Turner also took a dig at Dr Minnis’ campaign slogan “Roc wit Doc,” saying the country didn’t need to “be rocin” but needed to be anchored. She said: “The party is not united. We are not here to break up the party, we are here to heal the party.

“Now, talking about Perry Christie, let me tell you, Perry Christie is helping to make sure that the FNM is not strong, all of them. Since when you see PLPs does go on the stage at an FNM rally to tell FNMs what they must do. The PLP ain’t our friends. This is wartime. I don’t care if the PLP is your friend: I want to roll him out.

“At the end of the day if you have a warrior taking on machinery and you only have (Montagu MP) Richard Lightbourn that you can count on every time or (North Eleuthera MP) Theo Neilly or (Central Grand Bahama MP) Neko Grant or (St Anne’s MP Hubert Chipman) Chippie but you don’t have your Leader ... I am telling you all, watch Parliament. I am going to tell you who are the ones you see out there taking blows.

“The other day, when we were finishing up the educational bill, (a) very important bill the Leader said he was sick, but he got well soon (and) a friend of mine saw him in the barber shop a couple hours later. But he was too sick to debate on behalf of the FNM.”

She said her campaign is working on its five-point plan to rescue the country, which is expected to soon be released to the public.

Both Mrs Butler-Turner and Dr Duane Sands, who is contending for the deputy leadership, are expected to attend a round-table discussion at the College of the Bahamas this evening to discuss their position on national issues. Dr Minnis was reportedly also invited to attend but it is unclear whether he will make an appearance.