BREAKING: Senior FNM figures in Grand Bahama privately furious over Pintard’s town hall performance

Sources say Leader of the Opposition ’embarrassed the party’ and ‘played into the Government’s hands’

Nassau, Bahamas — 10 March 2026

Multiple senior Free National Movement figures in Grand Bahama have privately expressed deep frustration with Opposition Leader Michael Pintard’s conduct at yesterdays ‘s town hall meeting in Freeport, with several describing his performance as “embarrassing” and damaging to the party’s standing on the island.

According to well-placed sources within the FNM’s Grand Bahama constituency organisations, Pintard’s decision to echo the Grand Bahama Port Authority’s characterisation of the arbitration ruling — rather than acknowledging the Tribunal’s findings in favour of the Government — has left party members questioning his judgment and, increasingly, his leadership.

“He went up there and read the GBPA’s press release back to people who have been suffering under that arrangement for decades,” said one senior FNM organiser in Grand Bahama who requested anonymity. “People in that room know what the Port Authority has done to this island. And our Leader stood up and sided with them. It was embarrassing.”

Another long-standing FNM member on the island said the reaction within party ranks has been swift and unforgiving. “Grand Bahamians don’t need a Leader of the Opposition who fights for the Port Authority. They need someone who fights for Grand Bahama. Pintard showed the whole country whose side he’s on and it wasn’t ours.”

The frustration centres on several specific aspects of Pintard’s approach. First, his characterisation of the ruling as a straightforward Government loss — a framing that multiple legal commentators and the Government’s own detailed public presentation of the 139-page Award have challenged. Second, his failure to acknowledge that the Tribunal rejected seven of the GBPA’s eight counterclaims, confirmed the Government’s authority over Freeport, and established the GBPA’s liability to make annual payments until 2054.

“He didn’t mention any of the findings that went against the Port Authority,” said another FNM source. “Not one. How do you go to Grand Bahama and not mention that the Tribunal confirmed the Government’s right to govern Freeport? Grand Bahamians have been waiting to hear that for years. And our Leader pretended it didn’t happen.”

Perhaps most damaging internally, sources say, was the visual contrast at the town hall itself — where Pintard appeared to lose the room, struggling to command an audience that had just heard a detailed presentation of the Tribunal’s findings from the Government’s side.

“The Prime Minister’s people came with the ruling. They came with the evidence. They walked the room through it page by page,” said one attendee who is a registered FNM supporter. “Then our Leader got up and had nothing. No analysis. No detail. Just the same talking points the Port Authority put out the day the ruling dropped. People were shaking their heads.”

The discontent comes at a precarious moment for Pintard’s leadership. The FNM has struggled to gain traction in Grand Bahama, where the party once held dominant support. Several sources indicated that the town hall performance has intensified quiet conversations within the party about whether Pintard is capable of leading the FNM into the next general election.

“Grand Bahama is supposed to be our base,” said one former FNM parliamentarian who declined to be named. “After last week, I’m not sure it still is. And I’m not sure it should be under this leader.”

The FNM’s national headquarters did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

The PLP, in a statement released over the weekend, accused Pintard of acting as “the GBPA’s man in Parliament” and described his conduct as “the most unpatriotic posture imaginable.”

The Partial Final Award of the Tribunal has been made public in its entirety and tabled before Parliament.

Developing story. More to follow.

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