The following is the full text of the speech delivered by Member of Parliament for Hamilton Parish West as he joined the Progressive Labour Party.

"I' am Who I' am"

Mr. Speaker, I stand this morning to give you and the Honourable Members of this House a personal explanation. Firstly though, I wish to recognise my father, mother, wife, son, daughter, brother, son-in-law, other family members and friends in the visitors' gallery today. Thank you for coming to hear what I have to say.

Mr. Speaker, I am who I am. What does that mean? I am the sum of the many Bermudian people who have played a role in shaping who I am. From Mrs. Lillian Wooldridge, my math teacher, to Ms Rosaline Robinson my Head Mistress at Francis Patton School. From Bertram Guishard to Alfred Carey at Bermuda Technical Institute and my former choir director Maybelle Denwiddie.

From my father, who took me out on the door step at the age of 14 and showed me how to canvass and how to be charming, to my mother who taught me to be kind to others. My grandfather Bishop Russell Furbert who told me "seek first the Kingdom of God and all else will be added onto you". My former pastor, Bishop Norris Dickenson who will be 99 years in May taught me to hold firm in what I believe in.

My great uncle, F.S. Furbert, a former Principal of the Berkeley Institute from whom I learnt the importance of education. From my great grandfather, W.B. Furbert a former Member of the Colonial Parliament I understood the worth of property, and from my great, great grandfather Benjamin Hill who was a great ship builder, I learnt how to build bridges between the races.

From my wife I learnt that I cannot do anything without God on my side. From my twins Jasmine & J'von I learnt that if I want to make a better life for them, I had to make a better life for everyone.

Mr. Speaker I have Bermudian blood flowing through me, blood of the Furberts, Hills, Burgesses, Trotts, Hodgson, Steedes, Crosses, Mayburys and other Bermudians flowing through my veins. Mr. Speaker this is who I am, a son of the soil, the product of these family members and many other ordinary people in Hamilton Parish.

The Principles that I grew up on are as strong today as they were yesterday.

You see Mr. Speaker I was taught to:

¦ Honour my father and my mother.

¦ Forgive those who trespass against me.

¦ Give a seat to a senior standing on a bus.

¦ Love them that persecute me.

¦ Say good morning to everyone.

¦ Feed the hungry and take care of the poor.

¦ If you can believe it you can achieve it.

No Political Party ever made me, who I am, and no Political Party can ever change who I am.

Mr. Speaker, The French poet Anatole France once said: "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the time has come to end one chapter of my life and begin a new one. Mr. Speaker since I was a small boy, I have supported, worked for and served as a member of the United Bermuda Party. It is the organisation that for most of my life, I believed offered the best answers and best solutions for our people.

I have had the honour to sit at the table with great people such as Sir John Swan, Sir Jack Sharpe, the Hon. Quinton Edness, the Hon. Jim Woolridge, the Hon. Maxwell Burgess and the Hon. Irvin Pearman to name a few. From each one of them, I learnt something which made me a better person politically.

In my latter years, I pushed for change, but saw no real move to make it happen. In my closing point to the United Bermuda Party I would say, "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. If you're still hanging onto a dead dream of yesterday, laying flowers on its grave by the hour, you cannot be planting the seeds for a new dream to grow today."

Mr. Speaker, before I was a member of the United Bermuda Party, I was "who I am". Our Constitution gives us the right to assemble freely, associate and to belong to political parties. This fundamental right gives us all, at any time, the opportunity to vote for, or join a political party whenever we want.

Many people serve in Parliament because they were called by a Premier, party chairman, or a political organiser requesting that they run for a particular constituency. Mr. Speaker, for me it was different.

I was 14 years old when my purpose and destiny in life began to emerge. It was around that time that the very song I sang became my motto: "If I can help somebody as I pass along then my living would not be in vain."

It has always been my desire to serve and help people, a desire which drove me to become a politician. Mr. Speaker, a year has passed since I resigned from the United Bermuda Party. A year that I have spent in quiet reflection among the people of Hamilton West, seeking wisdom and guidance on the best way to move forward. Above all, I have prayed, asking God, to order my steps.

Mr. Speaker It would be easy just to walk away from this honourable house and my life of public service. I've had a "good innings" and have contributed much to the political and philosophical debate of our times. When I think of the burden that politics has placed upon my family, when I think of the life that beckons beyond these hallowed halls, it would be easy for me to just walk away.

But how, Mr. Speaker, can I walk away, when there are still Bermudians who have the will and the drive to fulfil their dreams but lack the means? How can I walk away Mr. Speaker, when there are young men being gunned down in our streets? Mr. Speaker, how can I walk away, when some people are walking around lost, and without hope? How can I walk away? The simple answer is that I cannot. There is too much work to be done and too few labourers in the field. The harvest is ripe, but the labourers are few. That is the message that I have received, and that is the message I cannot ignore.

Mr. Speaker, the Progressive Labour Party Government must succeed, or we all will fail. Our economy must prosper or we all will suffer. For me, this alternative is too horrific to consider. During the year that I have been in the political wilderness, countless people have come to me saying that I still have something to offer and contribute to Bermuda.

Denis Waitley said "There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them".

I believe that my contribution must be to help our government succeed. For this reason Mr. Speaker I have asked that I be permitted to cross the floor and join the Progressive Labour Party.

Crossing the floor to sit as a member of parliament in another political party is nothing new in parliamentary democracies. The great Sir Winston Churchill is perhaps the most famous parliamentarian to cross the floor and switch allegiance on more than one occasion.

This decision, may mean that some of the people I consider friends will no longer accept my friendship. This decision may mean that some of the places I go will not be as welcoming. This decision will mean that sometimes the road I walk will be lonely. But if this is the sacrifice I have to make to help make Bermuda a better place than so be it. For I will not surrender, I will not retreat.

It will not be easy but through it all I will remain Wayne Furbert, "I am who I am" I want the people of Bermuda to know, that while I have changed the flag I carry, I have not changed my heart. I am still the man who believes that Bermuda's best days are ahead of us.

I am still the man who believes that as a people we are stronger when we work together than when we stand apart. I am still the man who believes we must harness the talent of all Bermudians, and close the gap between the races in, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

I am still the man who believes that we must embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed. I am still the man who believes that the future must be based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility. I am still the man who believes you can't lead a country out of the pain of your past. I am still the man who believes that we can't get bitter we must get better. I am still the man who believes we need to galvanise our people around a common cause to move forward.

Mr. Speaker, we are all accountable; not just for today's constituents but to the generations that will come after them and after us. We have a responsibility to determine a vision beyond the next election, and ensure what we do today will make Bermuda a better place, a safer place, for future generations to live in.

The Bible teaches us, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."

Mr. Speaker the time has come for, Wayne Livingston Furbert to renew my approach, to pledge my support, my mind, my body and my strength towards building a better Bermuda. Mr. Speaker it's time for me to serve Bermuda and the world as a member of the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party, because Mr. Speaker it is who I am and "I am who I am".

Thank you Mr. Speaker.