Dear Editor,
I have a gut feeling that the days of the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) are numbered. And this despite the recent announcement by former Free National Movement (FNM) member of Parliament for Bamboo Town and DNA Leader Branville McCartney this past July that DNA executives will meet to determine whether or not a new chairman for his party will be selected before the next general election.
Former Chairman Mark Humes was asked to resign by DNA executives because of inactivity, according to McCartney. The resignation, which came as no surprise to me, was announced in July. Several months leading up to the announcement, McCartney played two roles. Firstly, he acted his part as leader of the fledgling party; and secondly, he acted as spokesperson, which is subsumed into the role of chairman. I noticed that Humes was conspicuously absent from DNA press conferences.
It was always McCartney speaking on behalf of the DNA, which led me to believe that the party is falling apart at the seams. There have been rumors of DNA supporters defecting to the FNM in droves in recent times. One of the more prominent former DNA supporters to have done so is Roscoe Thompson, who ran on the DNA ticket in Central and South Abaco. Surprisingly, McCartney has chimed in on several issues relating to the FNM and its leader, Dr. Hubert Minnis. He questioned the manner in which Minnis was treated by House Speaker Dr. Kendal Major and the peculiar stance taken in the House of Assembly by Central and South Abaco MP Edison Key. McCartney had even gone as far as calling on Minnis to ask Key to leave the FNM, which is what I think Key is banking on to happen. That way, he wouldn't be accused of abandoning the FNM on his own for the Progressive Liberal Party. He would be able to go back to the people of Central and South Abaco and say with a straight face that the leadership of the FNM kicked him out of the party.
Of the current seven FNM MPs in the House of Assembly, not counting Key for obvious reasons, and of the four FNM senators and of the many former FNM parliamentarians, I find it interesting that the one person who has had the most to say about matters relating to the FNM is the leader of the DNA. I believe that this is McCartney's way of saying that he badly wants to return to the FNM. I believe he is too coy to come out and say so. McCartney knows that he must shoulder a significant portion of the blame for the FNM being in the unenviable position it finds itself in today. But I believe that the party would open wide its arm to welcome him back into the fold. All he has to do is to stop beating around the bush and just ask the leadership to rejoin the party.
- Kevin Evans
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