After spending nine years in the House of Assembly as the Member of Parliament for Bamboo Town and four years as a cabinet minister in the Minnis Administration, Renward Wells is back on the unemployment line.
Wells, an engineer by profession, enjoyed more than four years as Former Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis’ right man hand after staying loyal to Minnis when he was ousted as Opposition Leader by his parliamentary team exactly five years ago.
Wells was sitting so pretty that three vehicles with government license plates were frequently parked in front of his Stapledon Gardens home: MP plate, CM plate and a red plate, which is typically reserved for civil servants, not cabinet ministers.
Wells had it so good that his freshly cleaned government vehicle would be parked outside his front door with the engine running and the air conditioning piping while his chauffeur stood outside waiting for his boss to hop into his vehicle.
However, after becoming embroiled in controversy for awarding his secretary and his chauffeur - both of whom are his cousins - COVID-19 honorarium payments while frontline workers were left out, Wells was booted out of office with the majority of the Minnis cabinet. He also had a reputation for not answering phone calls.
Now, he is back at square one driving the family car and searching for real work.
According to insiders, Wells feels Minnis should have rode out the entire five-year term instead of calling an early election in September.
Had he done that, Minnis would still be prime minister and Wells would still be Minister of Health.
However, he is now left wondering how he will finish construction on his big house in gated community Venice Bay.
Wells started his political career in a little-known third party before making the leap to the Progressive Liberal Party, where he was elected to parliament and appointed Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Works.
Wells was fired from the government post after he signed a letter of intent with Stellar Waste Energy without then Minister of Works Philip Brave Davis’ approval.
Wells then quit the PLP to join the Free National Movement, where he was re-elected as the Bamboo Town MP and received a cabinet appointment in 2017.