FNM Senate Leader Carl Bethel weighed in on the current infighting within the party outside the senate yesterday expressing his support for Dr. Hubert Minnis and his team saying that he is the right man for the job.
“I think Dr. Minnis is the right person for this country at this time, I think he provides the right kind of leadership that The Bahamas needs.
“Senator Duane Sands has every right as an FNM to take his stand and seek to follow his star and while I would be supporting Dr. Minnis and Peter Turnquest his deputy, that is my right and I wish all FNMs well, ” Mr. Bethel said.
Bethel also added that he is not running for any positions at the upcoming general convention in order to focus on his position in the senate.
“I am more than happy to serve the Bahamian people at this time in the Senate. In Opposition, you have very few posts to offer and give people and I think it would be wrong as a senator to also hold a party office and hold down two posts.
“It’s better to give other voices a platform to be heard to both the party and the wider community. On the position of persons holding down two positions, I can only speak from my perspective.
“Nothing I say is intended to be a reflection or judgment on decisions that may have been taken by Senator Sands, I don’t extend any judgmental aspect towards him,” Mr. Bethel said.
In regards to the rumored divide within the party, Mr. Bethel added that internal disputes are not uncommon in but it is the public nature of the disputes that are worrisome to him.
“I think all FNMs are distressed over the extent of the public in-fighting, fighting in a political organization is the very nature of a political organization.
“Don’t believe they don’t have in-fighting 24/7 in the PLP, the problem is the public infighting that is what has been so distressing to FNMs.
“Let’s not get it confused in-fighting is in the nature of politics; jostling for position is in the nature of politics; the problem in the FNM has been a predisposition to fight its battles in the press, something that has been a flaw from inception, it happened in 1976 the same playbook was used and it is distressing for FNMs to be in the same position,” Mr. Bethel said.
Bethel added that ultimately the party will be able to regroup and emerge stronger than ever.
“We are a strong party. We will weather the storm and we will get through this convention and we think that we would have laid the foundation for further progress; and hopefully that convention will be a springboard for a coming together of diversion elements for the purpose of establishing a stable opposition and a stable government,” Mr. Bethel said.
Senator Duane Sands announced this weekend that a team featuring him and Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner, would be challenging current leader Dr. Hubert Minnis and his Deputy Peter Turnquest for leadership positions in the party at the upcoming convention.
The FNM General Convention is scheduled for July 27-29th.
