Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis has been touting his party's "victory train" ever since his re-election at the FNM's convention in November, but Prime Minister Perry Christie said Minnis is not a threat to him.
In fact, Christie said many people have been asking him to lead the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) into the next general election, although he stressed he has made no decision on this.
Asked by The Nassau Guardian whether he feels threatened by Minnis, Christie responded: "No. I don't feel threatened by Mr. Minnis. Mr. Minnis has to work at getting his party united.
"He has a lot of work to do in terms of his leadership. It's easy to win a party election if you program winning it.
"It's easy to do that on an innocent and unsuspecting competitor (Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner), who as she sits in here (the House of Assembly) debating, you are out there machinating and putting your things together, so that's not difficult."
Christie added, "The difficult part now is winning [a general election], being able to get people to believe in you and get people to accept you and get people to understand you and get people to believe that you actually have a vision for the country.
"That's a challenge that all leaders have, getting people to follow you because they believe, not just that you can win, but you have a sense of what you want to do for The Bahamas, and if Minnis can stand up in Parliament and convince me of that, by what he says, I would be happy, but he can't do that, or at least he hasn't shown me."
While Christie said he feels no threat from Minnis, he said he is not yet in a position to speak to whether he intends to retire from public life after this term.
"There are lots of people who are asking me to stay and lots of people who may mistakingly have arrived at a conclusion that I have the skill or what not to win an election for them and ultimately their job is to ensure that people win," said Christie, adding that he understands there will always be people critical of his leadership.
"...I think when it comes to me, when it comes to my family and what not, I'm going to make the right decision. I'm going to make it at the right time or announce it at the right time, and I'm not going to allow now any speculation to distract me, any side debate to distract me from what I'm doing.
"I'm working very hard knowing that people are skeptical about even our producing results. I believe we are going to produce magnificent results for this country over the next 18 months.
"I believe it's going to be able to help those who run in the next election to win again. I believe those things and I am therefore going to see to it that it happens."
Many FNMs have been working hard at keeping their party united in the weeks after Minnis trounced Butler-Turner in the party's leadership race.
In his victory speech back in November, Minnis declared, "I'm sure Christie realizes his days are numbered."
Since convention, the FNM has announced a series of meetings in various islands.
On the weekend, the party held a meeting in Central and South Eleuthera, where MP Damian Gomez has said none of the projects he highlighted as priority items in 2012 has yet been realized.
The Nassau Guardian understands that Gomez is considering leaving the Cabinet to return to the private sector.
Despite numerous challenges Christie has had with several first-time MPs on his side, he told The Nassau Guardian he remains confident and focused in fulfilling his party's pledges.

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