By LEANDRA ROLLE 

Tribune Chief Reporter 

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

FORMER Bamboo Town MP Renward Wells intends to run as an independent candidate in the next general election, setting himself against the Free National Movement party of which he was once a prominent member.

The Tribune understands that Mr Wells intends to launch his official campaign before the by-election.

The decision comes months after Mr Wells was denied the nomination, a decision that sparked fierce backlash from the constituency association.

His candidacy will prompt speculation about whether he could fracture the FNM’s base and split the vote.

Party insiders say Dr Duane Sands, the FNM’s chairman, is now eyeing the party’s nomination for Bamboo Town instead of Elizabeth, the constituency he once represented and unsuccessfully contested on three other occasions, including in a by election.

Mr Wells served as the MP for Bamboo Town first under the Christie administration and then under the Minnis administration.

He later served as Minister of Transport, then Minister of Health under the Minnis administration. Mr Wells was one of the most prominent FNM members to publicly support Dr Minnis’ leadership bid at the party’s last convention.

He has reportedly been a visible figure in the constituency since his defeat in the 2021 election and had repeatedly expressed interest in running again.

“At the end of the day, I am to be judged by my history, and the work I would have done as MP, and a Cabinet minister in three major ministries of the government, and while holding down the post of being the leader of government business, running the entire Parliament,” he told The Tribune in May.

Former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis has said he will run in the Killarney constituency in the next general election, though he hasn’t specified that he will do so as an independent.