Amid soaring voter discontent, the Free National Movement has brought in foreign consultants to help secure the governing party another victory in the 2022 General Election.
The highly-paid consultants are coaching Members of Parliament and Senators to drive home the message that Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis is really not the Competent Authority wielding all the power during the months-long state of emergency but rather members of his cabinet are making decisions together in the best interest of all Bahamians.
Minnis has been slammed as a dictator who does not accept wise counsel from those around him. He has also been criticized for spur of the moment restrictions including lockdowns, curfews, business closures and beach closures.
Minnis instructed his ZNS spy and mouthpiece Altovese Munnings to ask him during his recent press conference who the Competent Authority is. Minnis replied the Competent Authority is the Cabinet of the Bahamas, as rehearsed, but Emergency Orders state that the Competent Authority is the Prime Minister.
In order to win over angry and disenfranchised voters, consultants have stressed to the FNM’s parliamentary team they must do all they can when speaking in the House of Assembly, the Senate and during press conferences to convince Bahamians that Minnis is not a dictator but is really “a loving leader” who is trying to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senior FNMs were also advised to ask the Bahamian people to make more sacrifices to curb the spread of the virus and to encourage a partnership between Bahamians and the government during lockdowns so that the Minnis Administration is not viewed as the enemy that has taken away the public’s civil liberties.
Another public relations strategy pushed by FNM consultants is to brand the opposition Progressive Liberal Party as a “combative” group that is not unified with the government whenever PLP members criticize the Minnis Administration’s handling of the coronavirus.
The Governor General declared a state of emergency in March at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency orders were recently extended to the end of November, amid pushback from some political, church and business leaders.