FNM leader further weakened

Tue, May 17th 2016, 04:05 PM

With a new round of controversy engulfing the Free National Movement (FNM), Lanisha Rolle resigned from the Senate on Friday, claiming it was for personal reasons. The resignation came as a recorded conversation between her and Lincoln Bain, who is eying the party's Pinewood nomination, made the rounds on WhatsApp.

In the recording, Rolle made disparaging remarks against certain senior FNMs. The conversation reportedly happened at a Starbucks location. She was appointed to the Senate last year in February after Minnis asked Heather Hunt to resign.

Bain acknowledged recording the conversation. He told The Nassau Guardian he received a call advising him that Rolle would be meeting with him and that he was about to be "sabotaged". He said he recorded the conversation to protect himself.

Bain said he let executives who Rolle mentioned hear the conversation, but he said he did not know how the recording was made public. Since her appointment last year Rolle has been controversial. She declared on a Guardian Radio talk show that the country will not support Long Island MP Loretta Butler-Turner for prime minister and accused the former deputy leader and other sitting FNM MPs of being "jealous" of Dr. Hubert Minnis, the party's leader.

Rolle said the country is tired of "dictatorial styles" of leadership and any member who challenges Minnis will fail. She is a Minnis loyalist with a great affinity for her leader. She fights for him and tries to protect him.

The problem for Minnis is that Rolle has delusions of grandeur and she speaks without thinking strategically. She became a liability to him. She was forced out. In her place Minnis appointed Dr. Duane Sands to the Senate.

Sands is not a Minnis supporter. He has his own ambitions of rising to the top in politics. That Minnis would appoint him and not another loyalist suggests that the FNM leader is feeling pressure and he is trying to reach out to those in the party who want his political head. This peace offering, if it is that, will not help the doctor, however.

Those who are against Minnis, and that number is growing, think him to be unfit for the office of prime minister. They do not think he has the smarts, the political instincts or the charisma to lead. Their goal is to remove him.

Minnis cannot defeat the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP). The question for the FNM is: Should it just give up and go down in defeat in an election it should win because it has a limited Minnis as leader, or could the party figure out how to remove him in time for a new leader to establish himself or herself before the election?

Minnis is at his weakest point since becoming FNM leader about four years ago. Under him the party has no money, there is no enthusiasm, the best candidates are not coming forward to serve. In politics, a true blood sport, opponents sense weakness. If ever his enemies were planning to strike now would be the time.

In medicine doctors are revered for being able to heal and do things few others can. In politics leaders are envied. Others who crave power and a chance at the throne plot to tear you down constantly. The great ones survive the attempted coups. They defeat their enemies. The weak are consumed. They are not meant to wear the crown.

To many FNMs Minnis is an illegitimate pretender on a throne he does not deserve. They are done "giving him a chance". This latest debacle with Rolle is just another example to them of why he must go, and go now.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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