Former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis showed the full scale of his pettiness and political immaturity on Saturday after he intentionally missed new Free National Movement leader Michael Pintard’s victory speech.
Minnis, who was replaced as FNM leader today after leading the party for nine excruciating years, cast his vote in the FNM leadership election at Holy Trinity Activity Center in Stapledon Gardens but refused to stick around for the vote count and the new leader’s first address to the party.
Pintard was joined onstage by Former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, former FNM Leader Tommy Turnquest and unsuccessful leadership candidates Kwasi Thompson and Iram Lewis.
However, Minnis was nowhere to be seen. Minnis has also privately indicated he will not support Pintard in his new role.
The relationship between Minnis and Pintard became increasingly strained during the last year of the Minnis-led government’s term in office as Pintard felt Minnis was a spiteful and incompetent leader who cast aside longtime party members and showed contempt for voters.
In the weeks leading up to the convention, a desperate Minnis canvassed FNM members in an attempt to hold onto the leadership post but his friend-turned-enemy Ingraham made it clear that Minnis would be embarrassed if he attempted to run for leader again.
Ingraham, who refused to campaign for the FNM ahead of the September 16 General Election, used his enduring influence within the party to get Pintard elected.
Ingraham has told those close to him he is happy to see the back of Minnis, who once declared that the Ingraham era is over and refused to accept help from the former North Abaco MP, who offered to lend assistance in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian in 2019.
FNM members have called Minnis the worst leader in the party’s history. He will also go down in Bahamian history as the shortest-serving prime minister, having only served for four years.
Under his leadership, Minister of Immigration Brent Symonette, Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Lanisha Rolle, Minister of Health Dr. Duane Sands and Deputy Prime Minister Peter Turnquest resigned from cabinet while Centreville MP Reece Chipman and Golden Isles MP Vaughn Miller quit the party to become Independents.
However, Minnis is no stranger to tearing the FNM apart.
Before the 2017 General Election, seven FNM MPs banded together and had him ousted as Opposition Leader, branding him “a failed leader”.