Swan: Never Too Late To Do What Is Right
(Written by Kim.Swan, Leader of the Opposition)
After hearing words of unity spoken by Premier Brown on the weekend I was of two minds.
My first reaction was: “You’ve got to be kidding. After years in which he never hesitated to sow division for political gain, this sounds like a deathbed conversion.”
My second reaction was more positive: “Better late than never. At least he’s taking a leaf out of the UBP playbook. Our goal has always been ‘One People, One Bermuda’, so I’m encouraged when anyone takes up the mantle, even a Premier just weeks from resigning.”
The point of my second thought is that it’s never too late to do what is right for Bermuda.
Unfortunately, Dr. Brown’s time is fast running down and the move toward positive, unifying leadership will be up to others. Dr. Brown missed his opportunity to bring Bermudians closer together, closer to the goal of One People, One Bermuda.
The Premier said his mission was to plough up the ground. I thought that was the right metaphor for his years in office because just ploughing the ground is not enough. You need to seed the soil to grow something good. You need to nurture it to produce a good harvest. And it is in this that the Premier failed. His words and his actions never brought people together.
People will respond to a positive, inclusive vision. People will respond to leadership that is anchored in principles of fairness and justice. The Premier had the opportunity to follow that line during his years in office and to build something really solid from which the island could move forward together, but he didn’t.
Instead, our public life was dominated by images of inside deals, favouritism, race-baiting, cronyism, careless public spending and vanity projects – things that soured people and deepened cynicism; things that advanced individuals, not the society.
That’s the missed opportunity and it is tragic because a man with Dr. Brown’s gifts could have done it. But that is the history, that is the man and it can’t be changed, not even by a film.
For me, you build a better society on principles of fairness, justice and trust; a platform on which opportunity is open to all and seen to be open to all; a platform actively maintained and enforced, where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.
That is what Bermuda needs – the opportunity to move forward together, with no need to look over our shoulders.
It takes leadership resolutely committed to the welfare of all and not a chosen few. We might get that with the next Premier, or we can get it after the next election.
But that is then and this is now. So what can be done today to move us forward to something better?
I am an optimist. I believe in fresh starts and I draw strength from the thought the rest of our lives start at this very moment. The opportunity, in other words, is there every day to do the right thing.
And so I urge the Premier to use the dying days of his Government to set the right tone for whomever follows. Use your skills to point Bermuda along the path of unity, toward One People, One Bermuda. It’s never too late to do what is right for Bermuda.
I hope you are not holding your breath Kim. In a months time Brown will be gone after four years of fleecing Bermuda. He came into politics with imagined old scores to settle against the UBP & its supporters. He settled them well taking good care of his friends & family along the way. The poor Bermuda voter be damned. He did nothing for them. He is a master at feeding the uneducated & dumb voter the verbal Kool Aid. They know not what they do not know. They only hear what they want to hear & Brown is a master at serving it to them.
He is sure to enjoy his travels for a long long time using all those frequent flyer miles paid for by the Bermuda taxpayer. When not jetting here & there perhaps he will be at his Marthas Vinyard home or New York apartment or Turks & Caicos condo or yacht, all things that he did not have prior to obtaining positions of power in the PLP.
I had no idea an MPs salary was so great that one could afford such luxuries in sich a short period of time.
The People responded and they voted PLP!!! One man ONE vote! Thats what the PLP did for voters. The UBP playbook??? LOL lmAo. I thought this was about Dr. Brown…. Kim?