By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Free National Movement Chairman Darron Cash claimed yesterday the party’s national convention had been “stained” as a result of alleged “underhanded actions” by the party’s incumbent leadership.

Mr Cash told The Tribune that while some in the party may view his comments as “bitter claims,” he believes that those “with eyes to see and ears to hear” could decipher the “façade” being presented by Dr Hubert Minnis’ regime.

He outlined a litany of instances where delegates in support of Loretta Butler-Turner and Dr Duane Sands as leader and deputy leader bids were ill-advised, forcing many of them to be overlooked for the party’s final delegates list, echoing statements he made earlier this month.

“There has been a gross lack of transparency when it comes to the organisation, and when it comes to the sharing of information and when it comes to simple things like a level playing field in how you treat delegates,” he said at the Melià hotel, where the party’s convention is taking place.

Mr Cash alleged that organisation of the convention was removed from the party’s national office and exclusively handled by the Office of the Leader of the Opposition - a move he described as “grossly inappropriate.”

As a result, he said the entire convention process has been carried out without transparency at every level.

“We have had situations where travel arrangements for delegates were to be organised by the national party office. It was taken away from the national party office and put in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition. Inappropriate, highly inappropriate,” he claimed.

“The offshoot of that is you have claims by delegates who are saying, ‘the party is taking care of my travel arrangements, I have yet to receive a ticket.’ And the instances where these sorts of things are taking place do not suggest simple mistakes, simple slip-ups. They appear to be a systematic effort to disenfranchise people who look to be in support of Loretta Butler-Turner and Duane Sands.”

As a former chairman, Mr Cash was integral in organising the party’s 2014 national convention.

He went on to insist that at that time, he sought to ensure a fair playing field. “When I operated as chairman I made sure that both sides, Loretta Butler-Turner and Dr Minnis were equally represented on the Rules and Credentials Committee and all of those disputes that came before the committee were resolved through negotiation and compromise.”

However, Mr Cash claimed he has not seen the same actions from current Chairman Sidney Collie.

“This convention has been organised in the midst of a very tough leadership battle and what has become fairly evident is that in organising this convention the leader and the chairman have done it in such a way that democracy, fair play, good taste are not on display when it comes to how the people who are running in opposition to them are being treated,” he said.

The FNM’s constitution calls for roughly six delegates from each constituency contested during the last election.

Additionally, various associations within the party are allowed to name up to ten delegates. Members of the party’s Executive Committee are also delegates. Mr Cash was recently removed from that committee by Dr Minnis, meaning he cannot vote in the convention.

According to Mr Cash, Dr Minnis and his team were able to amass a strong following by kick-starting associations that had stalled after the FNM’s defeat in the 2012 general election, installing their supporters in several other constituencies and removing non-supporters from associations throughout the party.

There are no constitutional directives that specify how delegates are selected at the constituency association level. Every constituency association is allowed to select its delegates as it sees fit.

Mr Cash continued: “The leader and his chairman have spent the last several months sowing seeds of discord. Their haste to name candidates ahead of a convention; their meddling in constituency associations and their moves to install certain figures in certain positions - the point has been clear for a while now.

“And so, I think there is a black mark, a stain on this convention in the way a convention that ought to be promoting unity has in fact been doing the opposite.”