“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

Bermuda, at this point it should be hardly necessary to convince voters that a vote for the Progressive Labour Party is a vote to continue on the failed course and downward trajectory we have been on for 21 of the past 25 years.

By almost every metric available, we are consistently worse off than we were when the PLP reign began. Bermudians are having difficulty affording the very basics: food, rent, medication, petrol and other day-to-day expenses. Inflation is out of control and guaranteed to get worse under PLP policies.

It is not just Vic Ball, the independent candidate, saying that. This is the palpable reality that permeates the mood of the country. I cannot recall Bermudians ever being so pessimistic and hopeless about the future.

Political corruption is so rampant to the point where people have simply become resigned to it. We are at that dangerous inflection point where no matter how incriminating the evidence is, it is simply shrugged off as if it’s just another day under PLP governance.

Examples are the ongoing Bermudiana Hotel where more than $100 million has been spent and continues to be spent with nothing to show for it. The Fairmont Southampton charade is ongoing with similar failures shrugged off. We have a gaming commission that has been established for more than a decade doing absolutely nothing to justify its existence, but after the news breaks of its colossal failure and gross waste of money it continues on as if, “So what?”

That brings us to the One Bermuda Alliance, a party of which I have first-hand knowledge. In fact, my commitment to its overarching objectives of a prosperous Bermuda for all Bermudians is on the record. I have not and will not waiver in that regard.

However, the OBA will go down in history as being the most ineffective opposition party there has ever been, if for no other reason than its inability to capitalise upon the five years of failures and blunders of the PLP — because it is too busy failing and blundering on its own.

Both parties suffer from the same thing: the demand that party politics takes precedence over the good of the country. At the root of every allegation of PLP corruption are breadcrumbs of doing favours for its members at Bermudians’ expense. What they should be doing is going to Parliament to further the people’s interests.

My removal from the OBA is a case in point. Every internal rule was broken to reverse-engineer kicking me out to put the leader’s cousin in my place. To my surprise, his response to that has been that I did not pay my dues. Keep in mind that there is no need to expel anyone if they are not a paid-up member. However, this makes perfect sense in the context of political party nepotism.

I am over the notion as to whether saying this will paint me as a sore loser out for revenge. Being independent means one does not suffer peacefully like the significant number of OBA candidates that disagreed with the candidate rolled out in Pembroke South West (Constituency 20) because their chances of winning their seats are now severely crippled.

Honesty is drastically needed in our politics to save this country from the doomed course that it is on. Independent candidates meet that need. It takes courage for persons to step forward without party guidance and affiliation, and put their names forward to represent their country and face public scrutiny, ridicule and attack from all sides. That is what is taking place right now but I believe it will yield positive results in the coming weeks.

Bermudians now have the opportunity to choose:

1, To continue as we are with PLP corruption and failure after failure

2, Electing an OBA that dares to put a convicted killer forward as a candidate with no empathy or care for the impact on the victim’s family; and for not being a “government-in-waiting” to the worst PLP administration on record

3, Voting for knowledgeable and creative independent individuals who have put themselves forward and have pledged their commitment to “country and constituency before party”.

Bermuda, there is only one obvious choice because doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is truly insanity.

• Vic Ball is the independent candidate for Pembroke South West (Constituency 20) in the next General Election

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