Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Tommy Turnquest says that He is Not Troubled by Opposition within or outside His Party

Tommy On Defensive

By Candia Dames

candiadames@hotmail.com

Nassau, The Bahamas

27 April 2005

Amid reports that he is facing fierce opposition from within his own party, Free National Movement Leader Tommy Turnquest called a press conference on Tuesday to reassure FNM's that all is well in the party.

Mr. Turnquest told reporters that he is confident that he has the full support of former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and that as far as he is aware Mr. Ingraham, despite reports, is not interested in returning as leader of the party.

"We in the FNM will not allow our political opponents to capitalize on make-believe issues in our party," said Mr. Turnquest, who added that he is not troubled by opposition within or outside his party.

"They want desperately to take the focus off their incompetence, ineffectiveness and inefficiency.  We must continue to reveal their total ineptitude as a government.  The old, pompous, all-for-me nature of the PLP is back and we must resolve to rid our country of this rudderless, incompetent and unfocused government.  This is the focus of the FNM ‐ nothing more, nothing less."

The FNM leader called the press conference to respond to a Bahama Journal article published on Monday under the headline "FNM's Want Tommy Out."

That story revealed that an advisory council of the party headed by former Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson has advised Mr. Turnquest that there are many FNM's who want him out and Mr. Ingraham back in as leader.

On Tuesday, Mr. Turnquest refused to discuss the findings of the advisory council with reporters, saying that, "It is unfortunate that some people seem to have taken [the appointment of the council] as a sign of crisis in leadership in our party."

He said, "As the duly elected leader of the FNM, I am working to ready our party to compete fiercely in the next general election.  On a daily basis, I am meeting with persons who have expressed a desire to be an FNM candidate in the next election, a process I hope to complete very soon so that we might begin to put them in place."

Mr. Turnquest also urged party supporters to "be strong so we may finish strong."

"The work that we must do is crucial," he said.  "Our nation is in the hands of incompetent drifters.  They have failed to live up to many of their promises.  Our people are hurting.  Our country is directionless.  We are being misled by those who govern us.  They are working to enrich themselves, their families and their cronies."

Mr. Turnquest was flanked by his deputy, Sidney Collie; FNM Chairman Carl Bethel; Montagu MP Brent Symonette; Senator Tanya McCartney; and Loretta Butler Turner, who was a candidate in the last general election.

Leader of the Official Opposition Alvin Smith and a handful of FNM supporters also showed up to support the FNM leader.

There was, however, no member of the advisory council present at the press conference.

On Monday, former FNM Cabinet Minister Tennyson Wells, now an independent MP, told The Bahama Journal that the fact that Mr. Turnquest had to appoint that council indicates that the party is in "disarray."

But Mr. Turnquest said the FNM has never been more united.

When asked whether he had an image problem, he said that he had no idea what it means to have an image problem.

Mr. Wells has said that the key problem with Mr. Turnquest is his image and that the very people who supported his bid for leadership in 2000 are the ones trying to overthrow him as leader.

Former Cabinet Minister Algernon Allen, meanwhile, said that there was treachery afoot.

Mr. Turnquest dismissed those statements.

"In May 2002, I sat at this very table and offered my resignation to the highest authority in his party," Mr. Turnquest said at the press conference at FNM headquarters.  "I was asked to remain until the next national convention which I did.  I then offered myself for leadership and I was elected as leader.

"I really can do no more than that, but if I continue to look over my shoulder or behind my back, I'd be constantly focused on that rather the real prize which is ahead and that is defeating the PLP and making sure that we return this country back to where it ought to be." 

They Backstabbed Tommy Turnquest!

Tommy 'Backstabbed'

By Candia Dames

candiadames@hotmail.com

Nassau, The Bahamas

26th April 2005

A move afoot to get rid of Senator Tommy Turnquest as the leader of the Free National Movement to pave the way for former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham's return amounts to an act of treachery, two former FNM Cabinet Ministers indicated yesterday.

Algernon Allen and Tennyson Wells both made a bid to lead the party in 2000, but lost to Mr. Turnquest who had the endorsement of Mr. Ingraham.

Mr. Wells said that Mr. Turnquest is now being "backstabbed" by the same group of people who supported him as leader, while Mr. Allen said, "As one who knows this party intimately, I see all the hallmarks of treachery afoot."

Their comments came following an exclusive report in The Bahama Journal that revealed that an advisory committee headed by former Deputy Prime Minister Frank Watson has indicated to Mr. Turnquest that many FNM's are concerned that the party would have no chance of winning the next general election with him as leader.

The committee, which was appointed by the FNM leader, reported to him last week.

Mr. Allen, who called into the Love 97 talk show "Issues of The Day," said the pursuit of power at all cost manifested itself in the 2000 FNM convention.

"They got rid of most of those who cared about country, who cared about the direction of the party," he said.

Mr. Allen said that the very people who several years ago "drove Mr. Turnquest's agenda" are now those seeking to cut his political legs and arms off "and they'd stop no short of drinking his blood."

"Here we have this scenario: Mr. Ingraham and others put Mr. Turnquest in position.  They heralded him as almost the second coming.  They went from island to island, from place to place and they told the public emphatically that he was the only one who could lead the party.

"Now here comes these same persons who surrounded Mr. Ingraham, who carried that message with a passion and who did so in ways which further ruptured and destroyed the organization.  But now they say 'Here we are at this point in time.  This man can no longer lead us.  He is not fitting.' Mind you, they failed to say that in 2002 really Mr. Turnquest was only leader in name because the public voted undoubtedly on the record of the FNM over the past five years."

In his usual impassioned tone, Mr. Allen added, "We have been rendered literally with an ineffective opposition because all are content now with cutting off the fledgling legs of Mr. Tommy Turnquest.  I sympathize with him because I know what is happening.  Unfortunately, he is in an incestuous group, a group that enjoys carnal knowledge with their own, so to speak.  [It's] an incestuous group that seeks now to destroy him because they seek now to forward another agenda."

Mr. Allen said he seriously doubts that Mr. Ingraham wants to return to the leadership of the FNM, saying the matter is not now even in question.

"I cannot see Mr. Ingraham leaving his pensions and emoluments which are a quarter of a million dollars a year ‐ [he's] given a salary, maid, chauffeur, gardener, medical insurance and all the rest ‐ to return to the fray of politics and I do believe that it would not be in his interest.  It would not be in accordance with his stated philosophy.  It would not be in accordance with the overall advancement of good governance in the country," Mr. Allen declared.

"I think now that the Free National Movement ought to sit and now focus and undoubtedly there is a very strong probability that they will not win 2007, but political parties do not focus on the immediate.  They structure toward the inevitability that in 2012 there is an election, God willing if Christ does not come."

Independent Member of Parliament Tennyson Wells, who also served in Mr. Ingraham's government, said the fact that Mr. Turnquest had to appoint a fact-finding committee tells that the party is in "disarray."

He said that while Mr. Ingraham may be able to win the leadership of the FNM, he would not be able to win a general election.

"He has been a divider," Mr. Wells said of the former prime minister.  "I would not support him if he comes back.  At least 30 percent of the base support that the FNM needs to win the election would not support Mr. Ingraham if he comes back."

He said that it is highly unlikely that the FNM could win the election under Mr. Turnquest, adding that he would need "grooming" and much greater support than he has now.

"I never thought that Tommy was a person to be leader of the FNM in the first place," Mr. Wells said.  "[He's a nice person] and has a role to play in the organization, but at that level, no.  He is not the person for that."

Mr. Wells said he always thought that the Member of Parliament for Lucaya Neko Grant, and FNM Chairman Carl Bethel "who has a problem with his personality" could lead the FNM to victory in a general election.

He also suggested that former MP Lester Turnquest has what it takes to lead the FNM.

Mr. Wells also told The Bahama Journal that he is still interested in leading the FNM.

"I never really left the FNM," he said.  "But most of them are so bitter against me that I've resigned myself to my position.  I will make my judgment within the next nine months to a year...but if you ask me whether or not I believe I could win the next election, I think if I was leader of the FNM, I could win the election.  But I'm not going to go out and fight over anything.  It has to be a consensus.  I'm not going to get involved in any friction...I'm finished with that."

Mr. Ingraham has declined to comment on the matter of his possible return as leader of the FNM.

But Mr. Wells believes that Mr. Ingraham should tell the Bahamian people definitively that he does not plan to return if that is in fact the case.

He said the former prime minister's refusal to comment has created confusion.

Meanwhile, former DPM Watson, who headed the advisory council, said on Monday that it would be inappropriate for him to comment on the group's work unless the party's leader allowed the release of the report.