Free National Movement (FNM) Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis yesterday dodged questions about FNM Chairman Darron Cash’s reported threat to resign over their differences on the issue of web shop taxation and regulation.
When contacted yesterday, Minnis said he does not speak publicly about internal party matters.
On Tuesday, The Nassau Guardian reported that Cash told party officials he was prepared to resign over his
“strong views on Bahamian empowerment”, according to well-placed party sources.
Cash’s threat came during an FNM executive committee meeting on Monday, the sources said.
As The Nassau Guardian previously reported, Cash was chastised by senior members of the FNM at the meeting because he publicly supported web shop regulation and taxation.
Cash’s stance on web shops is at odds with statements made by Minnis, who has repeatedly stressed that the FNM would not support any action by the government to go against last year’s gambling referendum results.
Most of the people who voted in that poll said no to the question of web shop regulation and taxation.
Minnis affirmed his position yesterday, but did not respond directly when asked about Cash.
“The only thing I would say is this whole issue of web shops, is not about web shops,” Minnis told The Nassau Guardian.
“It’s about democracy. It’s about a referendum that went to the people and the people voted. It’s about the prime minister saying he would be obligated and he would follow through with the outcome of the people’s results.
“We are a party of the people; we believe in honesty; we believe in integrity; we believe in democracy; we believe in accountability.”
REGRET
Cash yesterday released a statement denying that he threatened to resign.
He expressed “regret” that FNM insiders had leaked information on the party’s meeting.
"The only comments I propose to make are to make it clear that there is no stand off,” Cash’s statement said.
“At various levels of the party there have been spirited discussions about a variety of issues. I have made known my personal views and as chairman I have also recommended a course of action to my party, as any party chairman is obliged to do.
“Those matters are matters for internal discussions and I regret that insiders have decided to reveal any part of those discussions.
“With respect to a threatened resignation, I have not resigned and I have not threatened to resign. A political organization should be greater than any one individual, whatever his position, and I do not and would not presume to win any argument or debate with my colleagues with the threat of a resignation."
However, a high-ranking member of the party, who was at Monday’s meeting, said yesterday “animosity” has been brewing between Minnis and Cash for some time.
The source, who did not want to be named, said he was not surprised that their differences “came to a head” at the executive committee meeting.
The source said the party is “divided” on whether to support regulating web shops because the FNM believes Prime Minister Perry Christie was not up front with the public on the issue and wasted money on an “expensive” referendum.
“I think that we have to regularize and legalize the industry, but I’m not going to give Christie a pass on this,” the source said. “He has created a mess.”
Well-placed FNM sources told The Nassau Guardian on Monday that Cash was verbally “attacked” by senior members of the party in the meeting because of his web shop position.
Several FNMs at the meeting were also upset that Cash appeared to be supporting the government’s actions, the sources said.
In a memo sent to the FNM’s executive committee before Monday’s meeting, Cash urged the party to publicly support regulating the web shop sector.
He noted that the former FNM administration facilitated the expansion of web shops.
He also urged his party to revert to the Ingraham administration’s position on web shop legalization.
Cash wrote that the country would benefit financially from a regulated web shop sector.
He said the country is “on the financial brink” and acknowledged that the situation was partly due to the FNM’s policies while in office.
“We were the government for 15 of the last 22 years and we took some tough but expensive decisions to manage our way out of difficult times, including the so-called great recession,” the memo said.
Cash also wrote that Minnis’ statement that the FNM will side with the results of the referendum is an unsustainable position.
