By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis accused the Free National Movement’s leadership of blocking him from speaking at party events and association meetings — a claim FNM chairman Dr Duane Sands called “absolutely untrue.”

Dr Minnis expressed his frustration to reporters before last week’s House of Assembly sitting.

He said he did not know the reason behind the party’s treatment of him, but had some ideas and felt slighted over the situation.

“That’s the leadership policy,” he said. “I don’t think any FNM should be subjected to that.”

Dr Sands, however, denied the claims.

“Dr Minnis is allowed to speak and has been speaking at memorial services,” he said. “He obviously speaks at Killarney meetings. There is no restriction for him to speak at any FNM sanctioned or official event.”

Dr Sands criticised Dr Minnis for creating what he called a “false narrative” during a time when more pressing issues affecting Bahamians should be addressed.

“It is tone deaf and absolutely untrue,” he said.

This latest sign of friction between Dr Minnis and the FNM’s leadership comes amid uncertainty about his future in the party.

At the party’s one-day convention in June, Mr Pintard decisively won the leadership race, securing 486 votes to Dr Minnis’s 163.

While party officials have claimed to extend an “olive branch” to the former leader, Dr Minnis has denied this.

It remains unclear whether he will seek to run in the next general election under the FNM’s banner as he has remained tightlipped on the matter.

Dr Sands declined to confirm or deny whether Dr Minnis has participated in the FNM’s mandatory candidate training sessions.

However, he said Dr Minnis has been absent from official party functions, such as parliamentary caucus meetings, central council meetings, and executive committee meetings.

“That is not by policy,” he said. “That is not by design. That is by his choice.”