Governor George Fergusson’s say is not required for the Island’s legislators to launch an inquiry into “well-established historic wrongdoings” involving the loss of citizens’ property, the People’s Campaign activist group claimed this morning.

Mr Fergusson, who is off the Island, has turned down the Progressive Labour Party-led call for a Commission of Inquiry, requesting more clarification on the matter — which sparked the Opposition to abstain from Friday’s session of Parliament.

PLP leader Marc Bean also declared that the Opposition and its supporters would march on Government House as a show of their dissatisfaction.

This morning, the PLP branded Mr Fergusson’s decision an affront to democracy and called on Bermudians to join a peaceful protest tomorrow at 5.30pm.

In a statement, the People’s Campaign acknowledged that Mr Fergusson was not “bound to consent or otherwise acquiesce to requests from the House”, adding that the Governor had the right to exercise his duty as he saw fit for the Crown and the welfare of Bermudians.

“However, when the elected representatives of the people convey a request through the constitutionally established process, it is reasonable to expect that Her Majesty’s servant in Bermuda would respond in a way that gives greater consideration to the need to correct the well-established historic wrongdoings.”

In a statement signed by church leader Nicholas Tweed, Bermuda Public Services Union president Jason Hayward and Bermuda Industrial Union head Chris Furbert, the People’s Campaign claimed Bermuda’s MPs don’t need “the mandate and/or permission” of the Governor to form a commission.

“The House of Assembly operates with a much greater mandate, the mandate from the people of Bermuda. As bearers of the people’s mandate they neither need nor should they seek consent from a non-elected servant of the interests of the Crown,” the statement closed.

“We therefore support or call for the immediate establishment of a People’s Review Commission of Inquiry into the historic losses of citizen property in Bermuda.”

Announcing Friday’s abstention from the House, Mr Bean said Mr Fergusson had “made a mockery of Parliament and disrespected the Bermudian people”.

The call for a commission was made at the previous sitting of the House by Shadow Immigration Minister Walton Brown and passed, despite opposition by the governing One Bermuda Alliance, after several Government MPs were recused from the vote — and OBA MP Suzann Roberts-Holshouser supported the motion.

In a separate statement issued this morning, the Opposition noted that Mr Fergusson, in his letter to Speaker of the House Randolph Horton, had said that the concerns expressed were “not clear enough or urgent enough to require a Commission of the type proposed”.

The statement added: “That decision is for the lawmakers, the representatives of the people, and the people of this country to determine, not an unelected Governor. That is the hallmark of democracy. The stance taken by the Governor is an affront to that very democracy.”

Quoting the US racial activist Martin Luther King, the statement continued: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

It further stated: “Bermuda, we must stand up to protect our democratic right and we must stand up for it now. This time, in denying the commission, the Governor has violated democracy by refusing to adhere to the will of the people expressed in Parliament. What will it be next time?

“No matter our differences in political belief, race, faith, or the walks of life we may come from, we must come together and stand up to protect democracy in our island home of Bermuda.”

Billed as a peaceful protest in defence of democracy, the gathering is set to meet tomorrow at the Langton Hill entrance of Government House.