“I can’t even afford to retire here.” – Sandys unionised worker at a recent town hall meeting

“Burt wants to call an election. He thinks he can still buy votes with promises. He’s broken them before. He’ll do it again.” – Political consultant

The great disruption is at hand globally and in Bermuda, as I wrote in my last op-ed. The momentum locally is shifting to the movement for independent candidates. The Progressive Labour Party and the One Bermuda Alliance both represent the status quo. So does the Free Democratic Movement. All three legacy parties are deeply concerned by this development. They should be.

Renée Webb, in all her endearing stubbornness – likely informed by current data and her deep ties to her community – predicts that the PLP will lose the next General Election. And it’s pretty clear to me that the OBA will not benefit from the level of current dissatisfaction with the government, as they may believe.

The toughest down payment

“The hardest thing for me was having to retire from the Regiment. It was a career that I worked hard to achieve including becoming an officer.” Cire Bean, independent candidate in the upcoming Sandys North by-election, said that at his recent town hall meeting at Boaz Island.

His presentation was simply a tour de force from start to finish. So much so, that a former politician, after hearing him speak, said: “I see Cire as a future premier eight or nine years from now after hearing him tonight.” I was there. I agree.

Cire made that down payment for his community. He did so when he left his beloved career in the military in order to serve, not only his community in the West End, but Bermuda. Let’s have his back.

I have received a number of honours over the last 15 or more years including the Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour and an appointment as a Justice of the Peace. More important for me though was the fight on behalf of those who had no voice.

Unlike David Burt and co, that fight never stopped at the door of empty slogans and rhetoric. The fight was dedicated to making real change in our country, whose image of itself and its myths never really matched its reality, particularly for generations of Black Bermudians.

That is why we must upend, more specifically disrupt and renew the Bermuda constitutional, political and economic model. The non-partisan movement for independent candidates can be the catalyst for change in our island home that is so desperately needed now.

A candidate for now and the future

Sandys North, we need you to cast your vote for the future. For the disruption we need beyond this six-decade model that has its roots in the 1960s.

Your young and committed independent candidate, Cire (pronounced “sy-ree”) Bean represents that change. Invest in him now for the future. He is a leader for today and for tomorrow. We need leaders that can help us craft the Bermuda we want and must realise for the next quarter century amid massive global change.

He will be a movement politician who will work with a coalition of independents after the next election to realise a new model for Bermuda, characterised by inclusive growth and development. A political model that puts people first and not the party.

He is the second independent to throw his hat in the ring. As I wrote this, Dwight Jackson, another excellent candidate, announced he will run as an independent in Constituency 9, where Vance Campbell is the incumbent.

There will be more. There are growing numbers of young and older leaders who wish to serve as independents. They also will be joining Cire soon.

The “Movement for Independent Candidates” is determined to support young leaders. We should embrace them and not shun them. This independent candidate will be a strong leader and potential cabinet minister when the next government is formed. As the representative of Sandys North, he has pledged his commitment to address these key issues:

• Increasing youth employment

• Reducing antisocial behaviour

• Improving buildings and neighbourhoods

• Focusing on vocational skills and training.

Community-driven

Cire was born and raised in Bob’s Valley, Somerset and also lived in the Boaz Island neighbourhood across the bridge. He has deep roots in the local community. In fact, his family goes back generations in Sandys Parish. He attended West End Primary, Sandys Secondary Middle School and The Berkeley Institute.

He has long been community-driven and committed to social solidarity. He first impressively demonstrated that at the age of 17 when he founded the charity “Payakid” while still in high school. Payakid sought to provide job opportunities for students aged 13 to 17 in order to address antisocial, societal behaviours.

As many of you are aware, a number of those youth who benefited from Payakid have, like Cire himself, gone on to do extraordinary things in their young lives.

Cire and I were both were born into PLP families, as many of you have been. However, we are saddened that the PLP of his father’s generation is not the PLP of today. We know that the OBA and the FDM are not the answer either. There is only one real choice for the imminent by-election in Constituency 36 – Sandys North. I urge you to make that choice on October 4. Vote for Cire Bean.

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

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