Attorney Sidney Collie is now Free National Movement Deputy Leader-elect after being nominated unopposed at the start of the party’s convention on Wednesday.
Registration of some 400 FNM delegates from all 40 election constituencies took place at the Wyndham Nassau Resort and Crystal Palace Casino.
Election of officers will take place on Friday.
The FNM’s Convention 2003 is being held under the theme, “The Way Forward…United & Ignited”.
Mr. Collie, in an interview, acknowledged that the FNM needs to reposition itself if it intends to become the next Government of The Bahamas.
The FNM leadership, he said, has an awesome responsibility to rebuild the party, “recapture its base, encourage the financial services professionals, and we need to give hope to the young people, and we need to turn around the crime situation in the country.”
The party must tackle the “hot button” issues plaguing the country since the Progressive Liberal Party came to office, Mr. Collie said.
“We have a government that has been in office for one full year; that has come to office on a plethora of promises and all this government has done after one year is appoint numerous commissions,” he stated.
The PLP Government has “made heavy weather” about a project in San Salvador which has employed less than 50 persons, when thousands of Bahamians remain unemployed, he said.
According to the Deputy Leader-elect, “The real issue, the hot button issue for this country right now, is how do we find jobs for Bahamians and how do we put money in Bahamian people’s pockets.”
Mr. Collie, a member of the Rotary Club of West Nassau, joined the FNM some 27 years ago.
Starting out as a constituency chairman, he has also served as Council representative, trustee, Vice Chairman, National Campaign Co-ordinator for the 1992 General Elections, as the party’s lead trainer for poll workers, and as the co-ordinator of four bye-elections, three of which the party won.
“I have worked relentlessly throughout the country doing charitable work. So my name and my face may be new to many Bahamians, but in the FNM, I am a household word. And we expect, after this convention to come out of this convention ‘united and ignited,’ and we are going to move quickly to attract those 19,000 persons who either voted against the FNM, or did not vote at all,” he said.
“In addition,” Mr. Collie announced, “we intend to broaden the base of this party, so that we can rebuild the party to the 1990 to 1991 status, and we’ll be ready to retake this government in 2007, or whenever a general election is called.”
By Vanessa C. Rolle, The Nassau Guardian
