What do you give at Christmas to David Burt, the man who seems to have almost everything, including the unquestioned obedience of those who toil on his patronage plantation.

There is one present, though, that he craves more than anything else that he is not going to get.

Remember the recent Gombey Festival? Those in attendance were asked three times by an increasingly embarrassed emcee to clap for the Premier. He asked not once, not twice, but three times for them to show the Premier some love. They refused each time.

Instead, they gave Mr Burt an early Christmas gift, the worst gift a leader can receive — the sound of silence. It is a deadly gift for a politician who craves attention and approval.

The Gombeys represent Black Bermudian identity and culture. They and those who follow them around during the holiday season symbolise the base of the Progressive Labour Party.

At that festival, those Gombey supporters with their deafening silence clearly acknowledged that in the hands of Mr Burt, the Progressive Labour Party is no longer the PLP of their grandparents.

This is when Bermuda knew that Mr Burt had reached rock bottom in their eyes. He received his lump of coal early.

There are two other PLP politicians, Jason Hayward and Wayne Caines, who will undoubtedly earn their lumps of coal on Christmas Day.

Belco is the island’s supplier of electricity. It is also the provider of the oil-based soot and other emissions to the residents of Mount Hill and neighbouring communities, including schools. At last count, 12 of them. It’s so bad that even the nearby gravesite on Cemetery Road is not spared. Think about that on Christmas Day. That even the dead can know no peace.

The letter to Santa

A long, heartbreaking letter to Santa written by a 12-year-old boy from St John’s Road, unbeknown to his hard-working parents, tells the awful story of the MPs Jason Hayward and Wayne Caines, who is also the president of Belco. Both have been sitting in that PLP caucus for a number of years, but have done nothing to address their plight. In fact, the Government has made it worse, thanks to home affairs minister Walter Roban’s Clean Air Act.

The conflicts of interest abound.

As the young boy writes to Santa, he drinks his 400th bottled water for the year while his little sister stands over his shoulder with an encouraging look of childhood innocence.

Oh, yes. Will someone like Vic Ball please tell Jarion Richardson and his hapless colleagues in the One Bermuda Alliance that there will be no presents under the tree for them this Christmas. This upcoming election will not be a rerun of 2012. The Gombeys and their supporters have given their verdict, and now the wider electorate in Bermuda will give theirs.

The babe in the manger

The newborn babe has a name: the Movement of Independent Candidates. The babe is watched over by the three wise men: Ci’re Bean, Sir John Swan and Dwight Jackson. They wait patiently for him to take his place at the next election. They expect him to usher in the change that Bermuda so desperately needs.

He has been tenderly placed upon the centre stage by his dear mother, Renée Webb, while the Gombeys dance before the newborn king, much to the adoration of the vast audience of Bermudians who clap and dance with unbridled joy. The Gombey Festival emcee heaves a huge sigh of relief and breaks out into a soulful rendition of Hark the Herald Angels Sing.

The child would grow to live up to its promise and pay forward the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The new government of independents achieved the dream: everyone on the island had, at least, a decent living on the island they loved. Hundreds of Bermudians who had fled to places abroad were returning home. And Bermudians had truly given themselves a special and enduring Christmas gift.

From your friends at the Movement of Independent Candidates, merry Christmas and a happy new year.

• Rolfe Commissiong was the Progressive Labour Party MP for Pembroke South East (Constituency 21) between December 2012 and August 2020. He is also the former chairman of the joint select committee considering the establishment of a living wage

• UPDATE: parodical references to bitcoin and a French-speaking governess have been removed from this opinion. We apologise for any inconvenience caused