By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Health Minister Dr Duane Sands has expressed confidence that he will be ratified as the Free National Movement’s Elizabeth candidate for the next general election.

Since his resignation as Minister of Health last year, Dr Sands has been quite vocal against some of  government’s decisions, in particular the extension of the state of emergency, certain matters pertaining to the Ministry of Health and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With election fever in the air, some observers have speculated as to whether Dr Sands will be among the incumbents who will not secure a nomination from the governing party.

They fear his reported strained relationship with party leader, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, will be to his detriment.

“This is the ordinary process of application, nomination and ratification,” Dr Sands said. “I know there is a huge amount of interest and speculation being fuelled in social media, in particular, but I don’t expect other than to be ratified for the constituency of Elizabeth on the Free National Movement ticket.”

Asked if he feared not being nominated because he is allegedly not favoured by the party’s leader, he said: “I am not going to fuel that and add to the frenzy.”

Last week FNM Chairman Carl Culmer was asked about Dr Sands’ future and he said the former health minister’s name had not yet come before the vetting or executive committees for consideration.

An FNM council member, speaking exclusively to The Tribune recently, accused Dr Minnis of “cherry picking” candidates outside of the normal selection process in order to weed out hopefuls and incumbents that he personally does not like. Mr Culmer has strongly denied these claims.

Asked what he would do if he is nominated, but not elected, Dr Sands said, “I will cross that bridge if I come to it. Bahamians have become riveted with the social media stories coming out of various media houses, if that’s what you want to call them.

“All of whom are alleging this and alleging that and most of it is totally devoid of any truth. So I am not going to add any seasoning to that speculation. We will let this ratification and nomination process play out.”

For his part, Dr Sands told The Tribune his team has been working continuously in Elizabeth although some things were paused due to the pandemic.

He said, “We have been focused almost doggedly on food security over the last 12 months. We have done some home repair and reconstruction projects, but the types of things that we have done previously which was back to school, and BGCSE and BJC preparation, we haven’t been able to do because we are not able to do face-to-face education.

“A lot of the projects of park redevelopment, green space redevelopment and elimination of dangerously overgrown spaces in the community are continuing. All things that unfortunately, you would wish you didn’t have to do, but there are some people who, we believe to be outsiders, believe that they can just come into the area and just dump.

“So it’s continuing more of the same. I hope that the pandemic gives way so that we can actually focus on some other things, but for right now it’s very challenging to divert funds to other areas when people are being challenged to eat. So we are almost at 20,000 packs of groceries.”

Dr Sands was elected to represent the area in 2017 after losing his bid in the 2010 Elizabeth bye-election and again in the 2012 general election to former area MP Ryan Pinder.

Senator JoBeth Coleby-Davis will be representing the Progressive Liberal Party in Elizabeth during the next election. Asked if he views her as a threat, Dr Sands said he is focused on his record and the work he has done in that constituency over the years.

“To be quite honest, I am focused on my campaign and my record in Elizabeth,” he said. “I don’t pay a whole lot of attention to anybody else who chooses to enter the race. I wish her well and I am not somebody who believes in dirty politics, but at the same time, I have been working in this community for 10 years.

“So if she believes she can come in and convince the voters in the space of a few weeks that she is a better choice, then good luck to her. My focus and my emphasis is going to be on my record not only as a vocal member of Parliament, but also as minister.”

According to an FNM insider, the party’s council is set to decide Dr Sands’ fate early this week.