September 19, 2012Dear Sir,The recent car bombing of an MP’s car is a foreboding sign. It comes out of anxiety and what amounts to a bitter struggle for power. This type of thing used to happen in the 1960s when politics was critical. It shows the intensity around this election to throw us back into that era. I listen for reflection but instead get gawking from persons trying to highlight rumoured infighting amongst the PLP. The issues facing our country are too critical for silly talk. Whether it’s the economy and joblessness or crime and violent acts, they are not simple in scope. Probing questions on corruption and transparency are at the least contributing to the overall impairment of the sense of well-being that once existed within the country. They are perhaps not good questions, but instead of them leading to obvious change, things are blurred and I would like to explain why.While the atmosphere is poised for an election and with only two real parties, the strategy is hush-hush on both sides for fear of losing whatever perceived edge of victory. However it is only so because of the ill-conceived formation of the OBA.Properly considered or with better strategy it would have been a “slam dunk”. It was inevitable that the United Bermuda Party would crack and crumble. What was not as obvious was what should replace it. Old baggage was one issue to get rid of but it wasn’t the only issue. The design of the party was another fundamentally important issue which like that of the PLP’s must go.Unfortunately the architects of the OBA essentially replicated an old entity. No one wants to hear this because there are new people and in many cases younger people with a different take on the world. However you cannot put new wine in an old bottle. The new blood needed fresh organs to flow through to sustain a new growth and new vision. You can’t give an 80-year-old a blood transfusion, put new track shoes on him and throw him into a 100-metre race against youngsters.The truth is the OBA now sees itself as a political party, the confirmation of this perception was ratified when they decided to field 36 candidates. Now let’s remember that their name is One Bermuda Alliance and not One Bermuda Party. They were not looking for ideological alliances which may have attracted a broader field, rather they were looking for dedicated supporters. Their resolve to become a new centrally controlled party created a divide. Hence you have Kim Swan and Charlie Swan as MPs holding on to the UBP, a brother and sister contesting the same seat along with a number of influential blacks in support. The drive and zeal to become a formidable party overrode a vital process of determining what was best as an organisation for Bermuda as a whole.The term alliance was a useful terminology if only they had used it as a concept rather than just a name. Bermuda truly needed an open alliance rather than the grand old party with its selection committee and familiar regalia. Once the walls of the UBP crumbled, we should have been finished with erecting walls and the next walls to tumble would surely have been those of the PLP. But so much pressure amongst a bunch of old party hacks and so much money to waste forged this current proposition that only sits with a thin hope that the people will be angry enough with the PLP that either they won’t show up at the polls or otherwise give a protest vote. In short it’s like a football game where the PLP don’t have a goalie but the OBA is still depending on an own goal shot from the PLP at its own net to win. Why? Because they are driven by ambition and not wisdom.With no defence for the PLP, Bermuda needs better than what both organisations can offer. We don’t need to swing from one kitchen cabinet to another. We need all hands on deck and it is clear by process that both are structured for elitism and at best favouritism, neither of which is appropriate for a modern country, let alone a country that desperately needs to heal and become united. The parties themselves need to reform.Speaking of race, we know that the OBA unfortunately has to argue everyday to convince the electorate that they are not the UBP in disguise and it’s unfair that they have to do that because they are not the UBP. But as long as there is a PLP and an electorate that says 20 percent of blacks support OBA and the PLP’s support is 95 percent blacks, race politics will be alive. We live in what should be a pluralistic society with principles and values that correspond. People of differing experiences need to express themselves in their own terms not as one voice but rather multiple in that regard it’s healthy to see difference. What was always needed was an organisation that caused the walls of the PLP to crumble, not down, but towards a more liberal and democratically progressive movement. A true alliance, at least, would have had the hope of that.The forerunners of the OBA were too secretive in the way they formed and seemed to be trying to preserve their own seats as opposed to evaluating the best options and with an ideology that drew true change agents. Now we have a community in conflict, with youth experiencing a life under an undeclared civil war, labour uncertainty and political pundits expressing the belief that a tilt to the right is going to make it better. There will be no winners in this upcoming election. The days after when reality sets in, we will see a long and winding road in front of us. There is no strong voice of moral authority, we by our political processes have prevented that. I pray that we will find ears that will listen to leadership and that leadership will lead by example and allow some humanity to rain down to save us from ourselves.KHALID WASIWarwick