By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE Free National Movement attacked Englerston MP Glenys Hanna Martin for her recent criticism of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, with the party stating the former Cabinet minister has a reputation for being “indecisive” and will likely never be elected to lead her party.

The stinging statement came days after Mrs Hanna Martin lashed out at Dr Minnis for comments he made about her at a town hall meeting last Wednesday.

At the meeting, Dr Minnis said Mrs Hanna Martin was “plenty talk and no action just like most PLPs”.

“She spends all her time in the House [of Assembly] rowing morning, noon and night and not making much sense,” Dr Minnis said.

He claimed her attitude in the House is geared towards “getting rid of” Progressive Liberal Party leader Philip “Brave” Davis.

In response on Friday, Mrs Hanna Martin dubbed the nation’s leader a “dummy” and claimed Dr Minnis had “secured his position as lousiest PM in Bahamian history” notwithstanding his short tenure as prime minister.

Yesterday, the FNM pushed back, calling Mrs Hanna Martin’s statement “obscene”.

“It would be easy to respond in kind to her personally abusive outburst but we know our leader will not do that and neither will we,” the FNM noted in a press release.

“The lady only reveals how deeply she has been stung by the truth.

“Mrs Hanna Martin had a lot to say in response to the prime minister calling her and the PLP out for their miserable failure to deliver results for the Bahamian people but, unsurprisingly, she did not refute the prime minister’s message.

“The PLP’s talk has always been cheap, but the actions in government of Mrs Hanna Martin and her PLP cohorts cost all Bahamians dearly. We are still paying for the PLP’s misfeasance and malfeasance in office. Prime Minister Minnis has achieved in three terms in the House of Assembly what Mrs Hanna Martin never achieved in four terms, and will likely never achieve. He became leader of his party and prime minister.

“It is unlikely that she will ever become leader of her party or prime minister because she lacks the support in her party and the wherewithal and temperament to be leader. They know her all too well.”

The FNM claimed Mrs Hanna Martin failed to achieve re-election as the chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party after her stint in 2008 “because her party no longer wanted her in that position.”

The FNM also claimed: “She also failed to get a more senior ministry after the PLP was re-elected in 2012. She had a well-deserved reputation for being indecisive. . .The PLP are consistent in one thing and that is pushing their revisionist history so as to not be reminded of their historic failures of leadership including during the abysmal years of two Christie administrations in which Hanna Martin participated.”

In response yesterday, Mrs Hanna Martin defended her political career. “The FNM is correct, my temperament will never allow me to sit idly by and allow this to happen and I will fight for my country every step of the way,” Mrs Hanna Martin said yesterday.

“It is obscene that a PM would seek to lure Bahamians to a so-called town hall meeting or community meeting only to display such divisive behaviour and partisan conduct with the meeting descending into nothing more than a tacky FNM rally. It is also interesting that the FNM cannot refute or deny any observation I made in my prior statement as it relates to PM Minnis as it is aware that each and every assertion accurately records the track record of the FNM and this PM who in less than two years has proven to be the lousiest PM this country has ever seen,” Mrs Hanna Martin said.

“As to my proven track record both ministerialy and as an MP, the record speaks for itself. Perhaps the FNM would dare to debate further?”