By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

HANK Johnson, Free National Movement’s candidate for Central and South Eleuthera, along with his constituency association chairman have dismissed calls for him to be recalled as the party’s candidate for the area, citing it as someone’s “personal beef”.

The Tribune spoke with an FNM executive member who said members of the Central and South Eleuthera Constituency Association are not impressed with Mr Johnson’s “lacklustre” performance as an MP or associated “drama” and want him gone as the candidate.

The source said a team was sent to Eleuthera over the weekend to meet with furious party members who disagree with Mr Johnson’s ratification.

“We sent a team over to Eleuthera to do a listening tour and their findings were not favourable for the candidate at all,” the executive member said. “The association has issues with Hank and some of them went as far as to tell the team they will abstain from voting if we run him as a candidate.

“It seems like there is some sort of war going on down there. Those who did the listening tour will have no choice but to recommend that Mr Johnson is pulled from the line-up of candidates. We have to listen to the association on this.

“Hank had a major push from our leader,” the source claimed. “There were some issues when he was to be ratified. The leader really pushed for him to be where he is. The leader is not the one voting for him in elections and that should be noted. The people complaining are the ones to give the FNM that seat.”

When contacted, Mr Johnson at first declined to comment and said his chairman, Ricardo Dean, would be the best person to ask about the allegations.

Mr Dean denied there were widespread complaints about Mr Johnson and gave insight into what the infighting was all about.

“It was a four member team from the Free National Movement that came here,” he said.

“It was the former Member of Parliament, Alvin Smith (and three others). They did in fact do a listening tour of the island.

“What has been happening is that our former chairman of the association, before I took over…. he has a personal beef with Mr Johnson. So he has been calling the party in Nassau and suggesting that they come and do this listening tour. They came as a result of his beckoning. I am the chairman of the association and no one advised me that they were coming.

“They came and were picked up by the former chairman, who has the beef with Mr Johnson, and he took them to people who think like him. They promised to talk with me and they never did. They never spoke with any of the association’s members. I don’t know what their trip here did to the rank and file of the party. If they just left yesterday then I think it’s too soon to have had a discussion to suggest the removal of Mr Johnson.”

Mr Dean said the reality is Mr Johnson was ratified by the FNM months ago. In order to “un-ratify” Mr Johnson, Mr Dean said, the matter would have to go back to the candidates’ committee.

Asked if the disgruntled FNMs in Eleuthera have someone else in mind as a candidate, Mr Dean said he suspects so.

“I heard that they do,” he said. “Our executive committee here in our association has received no report to say why the team came here. When two or three members of our executives here got wind that they were coming, they went to the Rock Sound Airport to meet them just to question them as to what was their mission.

“Those members went on their own to meet them to see what their beef was. That is the only interaction any of our members had with them. There was never any official complaint from South or Central Eleuthera about the candidate.”

The Tribune asked Mr Johnson if he was “cherry picked” by the leader of the FNM against the wishes of party members in Central and South Eleuthera. He denied it.

“I let you speak to Mr Dean so I won’t be blowing my own horn,” Mr Johnson said. “At the appropriate time I will have a statement on it. It is not so. My name went to every level of the party and the votes were taken. I was then informed that I was chosen unanimously. There was no influence from the leader.

“Let me backtrack a bit,” he added. “The only person who came up against me at that level was that same lady who was in Eleuthera (on the listening tour). She was the only one against my nomination. Minnis didn’t do Hank Johnson no favour. (A female FNM member) was the only one to try to protest against me when I was being ratified.

“I am not surprised she was in Eleuthera doing what she was doing. Some people have agendas. I stand behind Mr Dean and his leadership and my people in Eleuthera. The Prime Minister did not do me any favour. It was a fair process.”

Meanwhile, The Tribune’s source said a report is being prepared for the party’s executive committee to review, which they do not expect to be favourable to Mr Johnson.