By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

JOHN Pinder, the Free National Movement’s candidate for Fox Hill, yesterday officially retired from his post as director of the Department of Labour.

In an interview with The Tribune, Mr Pinder said with his retirement now effective, he will launch a full-time campaign in the constituency.

Meanwhile, he expressed confidence of a victory over Senator Fred Mitchell, of the Progressive Liberal Party, for the seat.

Mr Pinder was among the final four candidates of the FNM to be ratified last Thursday.

“He has no original plans to move Fox Hillians out of poverty,” Mr Pinder said of his opponent. “He just likes to cause them to look for handouts.

“All he likes to do is be all about in the area but he ain’t touching no lives. He likes to be seen, but he ain’t touching no lives.

“... I think he knows I am going to win the seat. Every time I go in the area, he goes behind me and obviously someone tells him what I am about to do because I was about to do a clean-up campaign in the Fox Hill area and put out some bins and all that.

“I just announced I was going to do that this weekend (and) he went ahead today and did it. As far as I know he (is) chasing me.”

In response, Mr Mitchell, former Fox Hill MP, accused the former labour director of not standing up for workers.

He said: “John Pinder is a well-known blowhard who speaks before he thinks. He has to answer for many sins of omission and commission as a public official.”

He accused Mr Pinder of doing “nothing” as director of labour when workers were seeking redundancy pay from hotels.

“. . .Finally, he seeks to denigrate my record, but the problem is from his lips to my ears just before he was nominated, he told me that if I won Fox Hill, the people of Fox Hill would have a good representative in Fred Mitchell. I kid you not. That is what he said and I intend to campaign using his own words,” Mr Mitchell also said.

While there has yet to be any official word from Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis of the date for the next election, there has been heightened anticipation about an early vote.

On Sunday, PLP Leader Philip “Brave” Davis predicted that the Killarney MP was planning a move this week. Dr Minnis has dismissed this talk, saying on Monday that only he knows the timing of the next election, not Mr Davis.

Meanwhile, more than 191,000 people had registered to vote as of Monday morning, about 17,000 more than the number of people registered for the 2017 general election.