Opinion: Famous On ‘Real Life Stories In Politics’
[Opinion column written by Chris Famous] Last Saturday about 20 PLP MPs, Senators and supporters joined PLP candidate Jamahl Simmons as he canvassed several areas of Constituency 33. Constituency 33 runs from George’s Bay Road [Morgan’s Point entrance] all the way along Hog Bay Level past Fort Scaur and right up to the southern side of Sound View Road.
We were warmly greeted by untold number of residents as we walked around knocking on door after door. Many of them had known Jamahl since he was a toddler or had been educated by his grandfather Mr. Snaith at the West End Primary school. Most beamed with pride knowing that a local ‘son-of-the-soil’ could soon be representing them in the House of Assembly.
Political Storms
At one residence, a gentleman took time to draw a hurricane analogy. He said that hurricanes teach us that without proper preparation, we could lose our roofs or, even worse, our lives. His noted that the last two years have been particularly stormy for Bermudians and he and everyone in his family will help his community prepare for not only the upcoming bye-election but also the inevitable general election. His parting words were that Bermudians simply can no longer be unprepared for political hurricanes.
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At another residence we met a gentleman washing his taxi. He mentioned that many taxi drivers had been fooled by various means into voting for the OBA. Post-election, not only has the promises made by the OBA not yet materialize, the OBA also ignored the taxi industry’s warnings that their Transportation Plan was nothing more than a “band-aid solution.” As a result, many cruise ship visitors paid the price.
After the mistreatment by the Minister of Transport MP Crockwell, many taxi drivers will no longer support the OBA and are ready, willing and able to assist in the upcoming bye-election. It was heart-warming to hear that so many Bermudians are clear about their political options.
Our Past Meets Our Future
The overriding concern of most of the residents that we spoke with had to do with the lack of opportunities for the young people of Bermuda. It is abundantly clear to most that there is a pathway for non-Bermudians to gain employment here. In sharp contrast, our Bermudian youth are experiencing a 38% unemployment rate.
There is currently limited access for our young people to get their foot in the door so that they can support themselves and carve out a future. Even more disheartening for many of our youth is that the opportunity to gain academic qualifications has been quashed by OBA’s slashing of financial-needs based funding for further education from $750k to $40k.
Unbelievably, Minister of Home Affairs Michael Fahy has recently proposed work permit policies which will result in many jobs never having to be advertised to qualified-Bermudians.
Brain Drain
Bermuda is facing a brain-drain with many of our young talent moving to the UK in order to secure employment. One senior, in near tears, spoke of her angst of immigration policies that clearly are not well intentioned for Bermudians. For her, it was a reminder of the times Sir Henry Tucker and the UBP were enforcing unfair immigration policies in the 1970s.
She herself was frequently denied employment as an accountant in her own country. For years, she had to make a living as a cashier as she was time and time again told that she was over-qualified. While she had reached retirement, she was adamant that her daughter will not suffer the same fate upon her return from university in Canada.
Additionally, the OBA has promised to create a pathway to status for persons born in Bermuda to non-Bermudian parents. They simply disregard the challenges currently facing our own Bermudian young people.
These are the concerns we are hearing on Bermudians doorsteps.
Standing for Bermudians
It is these real life stories that one not only hears but genuinely feels when a person invites you into not just their home, but into their heart.
It is for these Bermudians; the seniors, the taxi drivers, and mostly for the young people, that we pound the pavement, knocking on doors and representing them in the media, the House of Assembly and the Senate.
They are us and we are them.
- Chris Famous can be contacted via email at Carib_pro@yahoo.com or Twitter at @ryderz777
I am trying to understand something. Wealth in Bermuda and wealth for Bermudians are directly related to foreign people coming to our shores and spending money.
The influx of expat workers created significant wealth for landlords, taxi drivers, restaurants, contractors and many other businesses. So why is there so much opposition to relaxing immigration to allow more people to come to Bermuda?
I really do not understand this logic. Bermudian wealth is directly related to foreigners investing and spending in our country. We need more people here….it’s just that simple.
Once we get more people here, then we can tighten up and adapt protectionist measures. Until this happens, we need to loosen the rules in an attempt to get more people here.
You want to fill those empty apartments….then we need to get more people here.
You want to help the construction workers, then you need more people here….then there will more demand for housing, buildings and repairs to existing structures.
You want to help the retailers, then we need more people in the shops.
You want to help the taxi drivers, then we need more people here who will need to catch a cab.
Again, let’s tighten up once we get the population back up….not before.
I personally know (and I counted today). 5 able and capable bermudian friends out of work and living with auntie, mother, cousin, sister. Who wish to rent/purchase a home, who wish to go out for a night on the town, who wish to purchase a car. I also know 15 plus bermudians who opted for England and the US for better opportunity. Let’s fix this first with diversification then we can look at the need the open the flood gates.
In order to diversify you need to allow foreign investors ont our shores.
If not then the 5 people you counted today would have a job because jobs would have been created.
The BD$ is worth nothing and foreign currency earnings are everything to BDA.
It is a pretty simple concept that so many don’t seem to be able to grasp as evidenced by their vehement opposition to the efforts to increase foreign investments.
Just remember the highest GDP achieved in Bermuda, under the PLP, coincided with the greatest number of work permits issued by the same Party.
“Just remember the highest GDP achieved in Bermuda, under the PLP, coincided with the greatest number of work permits issued by the same Party.”
And is this the air tight case this Government can come up with? Is this the ONLY way? Have we not leaned from this same scenerio that we cannot just put all our eggs in this same basket? If so, eventually, we will be doomed to be discussing this same issue 25 years from now.(with another 6000 new residents who will HAVE to be given status because they’ve been here that long) I would like people in Government who can think outside of this same box. Sure we can go it this direction, but we MUST do something different.
It would be beneficial for you to read up on how our economy works.
“Let’s fix this first”
In order fix this, we need to attract foreign investors. Bermudians are not starting business and not creating employment opportunities to make a significant dent in the current unemployment rate.
So, where will this ‘fix’ come from? It will come from those rich, risk taking foreigners that you are trying to keep out.
We must remember we do not manufacture, produce, farm, or extract anything from our land! No gas, precious metals,jewels fruit, flowers, raw material, seafood, rum or even illegal drugs! Everything is imported which means money is going out for food, fuel etc. When those items are consumed the money is gone and so are those consumed products. 100% of all new income MUST come from outside these shores. Whether, it is from tourism, international business or some other way it must come from outside. The PLP bullied, insulted and treated anyone that didn’t look like or agree with them. Now we are all paying for it. I don’t mind paying for what I have done wrong, but nobody enjoys paying for the wrong doings of others! The PLP may win this seat as it has always been a PLP safe seat. However, it will be a long time before any of us can celebrate after the disastrous 14 years of PLP rule. I for one see some hope for all of us instead of hope for just those connected to the PLP friends and family.
You are completely correct. However, the practical application is complex. First and foremost, you have politics. The PLP, even deep-down knowing what you’ve stated is true, will present its own spin aimed at a segment of society that refuses to accept such economic obviousness. Many of the PLP’s followers follow their hearts and have their influences heavily tied to the unfortunate racial history of the past. In their eyes, they see hoards of white people commuting into Hamilton each day, and the depth of logic as to who’s working and who isn’t ends there. Now one would have thought that all but the most die-hard of these folks would have learned all they needed to learn from the economic catastrophe that resulted from the Brown-era which was heavily centered upon get-whitey, but unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to have effected all but the black upper-middle class who took a chance on the PLP.
Reading these articles reminds me of reading a long drawn-out novel that gets extended by a page or two every week or so..
Same attacks, same baseless accusations along with the same underlying sentiment of the OBA being bad and the PLP being good. All you are missing is 3-4 song quotes dispersed throughout to compliment your piece, which quite frankly, i find the best part of your pieces..
I found it strange that the Taxi Driver that was quoted (if there really was someone) has already forgotten what the PLP did to the Taxi drivers? Does he not remember how he was bullied into buying and installing GPS even though most were adamantly against it! Does he not remember who was the benefactor of the GPS purchase and installs? I guess the doctor was right when he said, “this too shall pass”, because they have forgotten!
Here is my take on Taxi drivers! Stop sitting outside the hotels for hours waiting on a fare to come to you! Your taxi is your own small business. Do successful stores open the doors, copy the competition, change nothing about the products they sell and wait for money to come in! Of course NOT! The successful one business, hustle, promote, distinguish themselves from the competition and sell.
Many (NOT ALL) cab drivers have become lazy and expect a fare instead of working hard for and EARNING one! If you guys worked at polishing your product, smiled, were helpful, and cared more about the customer and the experience instead of your precious cab, perhaps you wouldn’t spend so much time in line waiting for a fare while the hustling gypsy cabs thrived!
“Bermuda is facing a brain-drain with many of our young talent moving to the UK in order to secure employment. ”
Bermudians are not staring reinsurance companies nor are Bermudians starting other businesses at a fast enough pace to have a significant and immediate impact on the current employment situation.
So where will these businesses come from? They will come from ‘foreigners’ who come to Bermuda and inject cash. So why are we so opposed to making things a bit easier for these needed foreigners to come to Bermuda and spend their money?
These days, these cash filled foreigners have choices as to where to spend their money. Bermuda is no longer the first and only choice anymore, other jurisdictions want the success they we once had in attracting businesses and money.
So, we must evolve and recognize this. Until a talented group of Bermudians get together, start a reinsurance company and hire educated and displaced Bermudians….we need these foreigners.
Because ‘foreigner’ , also sometimes disguised as ‘ex-pat’ and ‘contract worker’ is a code word for ‘white’ .
Why don’t you get that ? It’s been around since at least the early 70′s
Perhaps this is true. But until more ‘non whites’ start forming reinsurance companies or building hotels, the people most likely to come and invest in Bermuda will be white.
Like ‘Real Bermudian’?
Once again the ” not so famous ” and his propaganda machine are spewing total nonsense!!! It would be refreshing when the day comes that they in fact are honest when campaigning and inform their supporters of the fact that we need the immigration polocies that the OBA are implementing!!!! Without foreigners and the money they bring us, our BDA $$$$$ are worth nothing and we will all be out of a job and starving to death!!!! Once again I will say for the slow, our BDA $$$ are worthless anywhere else in the world!!!! We need the US$$$ in order to eat!!!! The plp proves everyday, they are only concerned with regaining power at all costs, the plp before everything else is their motto??? The thing they forget is, when the day comes we have no outside income because of their way of thinking, they will be no better off than the rest of us!!!!
So its better to hire a qualified expat than a qualified local and let businesses hire expats first and locals later? What about qualified locals quality of life? No love for the home base? Notwithstanding the ongoing and eroding employment dilemma of locals
Nobody has said that, you are making it up.
Thats whats going on..Foreign companies hiring expats more easily through legislation.
Ive been hearing the “you’re overqualified” excuse for over 20years..No bodys saying get rid of IB.The home team should be protected at home though.
For 20 years….then 14 of those 20 years would be under the PLP.
Take a read further down the posts and do the maths yourself on the age of that alleged accountant lady. something definately did not add up.
If you are referring to the proposed work permit policy, then you should probably also mention the numerous pro-Bermudian criteria that a company must meet to be eligible for such permits. It is designed to entice new companies to our shores and by extension create more jobs on the island. Even Walton Brown had praise for the policy with only 2 minor renovations.
But I know of no “legislation” which makes it “easier” to hire expats.
Not everyone is out to get you.
If you have been constantly been looking for jobs for 20 years and constantly been told you are over qualified chances are the interviewers might just be thinking why are you changing or trying to change so often!!!
OMG!!!! Christian, I even repeated for the slow?? Now it looks like I have to repeat it for the DENSE??? Without foreigners and the money they bring us, our BDA $$$ are WORTHLESS!!!!!! Do you get it now??? Also, please stop making up falsehoods on what I said!!! I never said it is better to hire a qualified expat over a local???? Just more miss information from the plp/support base I can only surmise?????
Where are the qualified locals? We posted the same ad three times and only had applications from ex-pats.
How did you word it? No locals need apply?
grow up
Consider the source. I assume that every one of these interactions was entirely fabricated by the writer. He’d be a better novelist than editorialist. This is a fantasy piece for the author.
Thank you Mr. Famous for your article.
I refer to Mr. Burchall’s recent piece on the cost of financing Bermuda’s deficit and how he sees to grow revenue. Compelling and factual reading. The numbers speak volumes more than opinion pieces.
It is through foreign investment that Bermudians will be put back to work–the fact that forreign direct investment is not yet flowing is due to restrictive GVT policies–thus the reason we are not seeing job creation.
Perhaps we should all get on board and try something different from the practices that got us to where we are today and if those don’t work–we try again.
This is the only way we will work through worsening situation–a party leadership change will do nothing to fix this if the fundamenatals aren’t addressed. I am afraid to say–the tired old polticial spining and rhetoric is not going to work.
Voters see through this and will articualte this in the polls—especially young voters who DO NOT see the world through the same lense as some of Bermuda’s politicans and political commentators.
The votes will be lost by those that don’t listen.
Have a blessed day.
@ Inna – This article is based on the lives of many although it may not be your reality. Your apparent bias leaves you at a loss. If you cannot see or feel what others are experiencing then maybe you can respect what they’re feeling. How can you agree with the damming policies the OBA attempts to impose, they retract them publicly then get them in through the back door. Something is wrong with this picture. If each Party during their term, is allowed to run amok then heaven help us all! This is democracy in action and well delayed.
Feeling pain, agreeing to damning govt policies, to democracy in action? I think you are the one at a loss!
And further, while I am sure many are unemployed in BDA right now for a multitude of reasons, this article has nothing to do with that. Famous is a pot-stirrer; nothing more, nothing less. I am inclined to agree with another comment stating that the three stories are nothing more than fabrications of this reality he speaks of.
This is another OBA-bashing article at its best, hidden behind a few “real-life stories in politics”.
There are no “Damming policies” by the OBA. The “Damming” was done by the PLP, the OBA are working hard to stop the Country Failing completely.
Need peace….I agree that there are a lot of people out there suffering right now and that something needs to be done about it. However you needs to wake up and own up to the fact that we are all is this mess because of the PLP’s policies. Over 5000 expats including their families left Bermuda and took their trickle down jobs with them. The ONLY was Bermuda can get back to where it was and get people working is to get people to invest in Bermuda. I have no doubt that you are a very intelligent person and that you understand the very basic fact about our economy. 100% of our $ comes from foreign investment to the island…100%!. If you want the suffering to get worse, then by all means continue to listen to the PLP who put us all in this situation in the first place but don’t cry when it’s all over and you are wishing that you were back to the good old days. Progressive Immigration=Bermuda’s survival. Your call
Flikel…..there you go again using logic.
Kudos to you Mr. Famous for your article and to Jamahl Simmons for showing up! Where are the others? Never mind, I guess it doesn’t matter!
Jamahl, salt of the earth. Ha. Self serving is more like it
This is really scary. If the PLP were to regain power, there is a good chance that I will have to leave the island. Don’t think that they will give my job to a Bermudian though, they will just ship me and my job off to cold, rainy London! Please don’t make me go!
I think reality is that if the PLP were to regain power it wouldn’t be the end of Bermuda. If you listen carefully they aren’t really saying what they would do differently. They wouldn’t rush to tighten our immigration policies knowing full well that would be the end of Bermuda as we know it. They can’t legislate Bermudians back to work any more than the OBA can. All any government can do is work on making Bermuda attractive, which is what the PLP would have to do.
Let’s be honest. The PLP knows they made some HUGE mistakes during their time in power. They certainly wouldn’t run around scaring international business away the way they were previously. That would be condemning the country to utter poverty… The PLP wouldn’t do that a second time around.
What we would get is pretty much the same as the OBA – doing what you can to attract investment. Except all the while the PLP will continue with their current playbook of playing on the emotions of the population to stay in power. That is precisely what the author of this article is doing. Playing on emotions:
1- some analogy about hurricanes (just after we suffered Faye/Gonzalo) so clearly aimed at striking at peoples emotion. But nothing of substance in that part of the article
2- a factual statement about reducing scholarships but with no comment about where they would take the money from to restore the scholarship budget or whether they would increase the deficit to accomplish the same. So nothing of substance there either.
3- OK so Bermudian university graduates can’t find jobs here. I understand that is difficult but no comment about how to reverse this trend. As far as I know encouraging foreign investment is the only way to change prospects for graduates.
4- Standing for Bermudians – They are us and we are them??? if that isn’t an empty vacuuous statement aimed at striking a cord with your emotions with no actual substance behind it… then i don’t know what is.
Thanks for that truthful “statement” Playing on peoples emotion will often lead to destruction
“I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklyn Bridge than the one who sold it” -Will Rogers, humorist (1879-1935)
send you and the Seniors to Belize according to the former leader E Brown – he must own land and business down there – kick backs – he can send Laverne and ROlf down there to get them jobs
I feel compelled to echo the sentiments of other posters here: we need foreign investment (like most other countries) to help stimulate growth. That investment may be in the shape of people from overseas or it may be investment in physical products, like a new hotel.
Bermuda is simply not big enough to be self-sustaining.
I agree that Bermudians should be given every opportunity to get jobs in their own country and Government needs to ensure that happens – but we need the job creators first, so we have to have that overseas injection.
Plus, Famous can ignore it if he likes, but we are in this position because of the policies of the previous Government which had since 1998 to get things right but failed to do so, which ignored an over-heating economy and pumped even more cash into via prolific borrowing. Basic economics was ignored and now our debt payments are more than $114m a year – tell me Me Famous, isn’t that now our largest ‘ministry’?
I would not vote for him if my life depended on it
This fellow Simmons has some appeal, if only his recent comments where made up or can be ignored ;-( This lady Marshal has yet to convince me that she will fix issues in 33 and help the govt put forward reasonable policy i.e. suspend red tape for quarry operations ;-(
Simmons has appeal? I’ve got a bridge to see you then. All I can say is make a point of meeting and speaking with Ms. Marshall before you make up your mind. I can g-u-a-r-e-t-e-e- Slick Willy/Jamahl isn’t going to be there when you need him. Guaranteed. One that ballot is ticked, he’s going right back into the good Dr. pocket for his Premier in training course
Chris Famous, all of the problems that are facing Bermudians today lie squarely with the PLP. You have conveniently forgotten to mention that under Crockwell taxis have been allowed to increase their rates while the PLP were focused on every taxi having GPS systems installed in them! Before the 2012 election young people were largely unemployed. Why? Because the PLP drove foreigners out of here with their TERM LIMIT policy which meant Bermudian job losses and less opportunities for young Bermudians. The PLP also left Bermuda with massive debt that has backed us in a corner with no ability for the gov’t the ‘spend’ our way out of the recession. Bob Richards warned about an overheated economy many years ago when the PLP were spending money like drunken sailors. Now every young Bermudian, taxi driver and senior can blame the PLP for their hangover!
“You can fool some people some of the time but you can’t fool all the people all of the time!”
get back to your work at Belco
Believe me when I say 95% of the taxi drivers out there have nothing good to say about the plp and DREB. DREB is the one who introduced too many mini-buses, which has had a dramatic negative effect on the taxi business… it’s really sad what it has come to.
Meanwhile the “big bad” OBA increased taxi fares, long overdue, which has helped drivers get through the long off-season. But many drivers have quit.
Unfortunately, on the negative side, the OBA Gov’t has not been able to boost fly-in visitors. Increasing tourism traffic through the airport and thus bed nights, will be critical if the Island is to survive. Too bad the so-called Tourism Authority, just another BDoT old boys club, still don’t know their as*es from their elbows! They are making the same mistakes over and over and over again, ad infinitum (just like the plp did)………..
How long have the BTA been up and running??????
The BTA keeps chasing that millionaire dollar. I’m sorry to say that it just doesn’t pay off that well. They need to also chase those who aren’t millionaires but also go on holidays to island destinations.
Rachel Ray show,
X Factor show,
America’s cup press and potential event.
That’s just the few of the top of my head.
They are appealing across a wide base at varing income levels.
They are getting Bermud on the minds of everyone as the desirable destination to visit.
You mean like the PLP did with the African Diaspora Tourism project , or Faith Based Tourism, or maybe with the Beyoncé Concert that cost us $4 million to attract he same tourists that could see her in concert in their own city for far less?
I am an OBA supporter and as messy as they are, I support what they are trying to do in turning Bermuda around. Unfortunately, the OBA is doing the worst PR job. Compared to how badly the PLP managed Government, the OBA should be knocking over wickets nearly everyday.
They need to articulate very clearly and simply to the Bermuda voting public why “opinion” pieces like this are 100% wrong and will keep those that are less fortunate or disenfranchised, less fortunate and disenfranchised.
Come on, OBA. What’s your problem?
Me thinks he made the accountant thing up.
why?
70′s , so would be an accountant in the 1970.s
would be around 18 + 3years degree, + 1 to 2 years experience and professional qualification. Therefore would be 24 in the 1970′s. Let us assume the midpoint 1975 aged 24.
She would now be 73 years old with a daughter aged say 21 in university.
It’s possible she had a baby at 51 (Fifty One) years old, but this would have made national if not international news and we would all know her.
I smell a rat and it’s name is Famous.
63 not 73 based on your math (guess you’re not an accountant either )… but it does say she is retired so at least 65.
However, as it was an era of overemployment and of the growth of IB, it sounds odd if a qualified accountant.
Yep. It’s a total BS made up story. You’re right.
So basically this article is a very few anecdotes about events that transpired during canvassing.
How many doors were slammed in your face?
First, these are the words of the electorate of #33. Voters. Yet their comments are still undermined which are a reflection of the typical OBA mindset in general. “To heck with the Bdian” is their first order of business. These same voters will also be reading this article and the comments as well by the way, so way to go in supporting your own candidate.
Second, what the people on this blog do not get and totally miss time and again when this subject comes up is that ALL Bermudians DO understand that foreign investment is needed for the island between Tourism and IB. Gee, we have only lived it for greater than half a century for goodness sakes. What is purposely being MISSED in this never ending rhetoric of how ‘Bermudians (or PLP) do not understand about foreign investment putting food on their plates, etc etc” is that there is NO reason why having a hotel which puts up shop here or an IB business cannot still operate without qualified Bermudian employees filled in 85% to 90% (or more) in all areas. End of story. It’s done in most other countries and in the Caribbean. They hire their own people. So why not here? I understand there may be some gaps in qualifications, but over half a century of immigration policy shenanigans have resulted in the goal posts constantly being shifted, nuanced and moved time and again to build an arsenal of ‘much needed foreigners’ while disenfranchising the Bermudian and creating a sense of hopelessness regarding real opportunities. Let’s be honest now. Sure we have many success stories, not denying that, but the employee demographics are practically IDENTICAL for the last 30+ years regarding the lack of Bermudian vs foreign workers. Actually I take that back. They are WORSE now, and in 2014 you would be hard pressed to find a Bermudian waiter/waitress anywhere or a ‘skilled’ pot washer or chef behind the scenes. These companies who hire foreigners in droves including restaurants, construction, etc hire them at the expense of Bermudians after the fact, after they set up shop. Are you telling me that their plans to set up shop here include a pre-hire of all their personnel in tow before they register to come here? In every case? They recruit from all over the world but let’s face it, ads and positions have always been manipulated to favour the foreigner. I recall one anecdote from someone who stated that the Bermudian was not hired because ‘they were not a good fit’ even though they were qualified. ‘Good fit’ means being around people that look like them (foreign). Let’s be real now. And the argument about Bermudians not applying for pot washer jobs, etc? When you apply and the prospective employer asks for unreasonable working hours beyond the Employment Act at an unreasonable pay (another form of slave labour), unlike the Bermudian who has obligations, family, etc, for the single foreign worker from an impoverished third world country, this is like winning the jackpot, they barely spend and send all of their jackpot winnings home. This creates a terrible divide in the community.
Foreigners get the higher pay, the higher bonuses, the better opportunities for upward mobility, the housing allowances, the gas allowances, and on and on and on and Bermudians see this on a regular and rightly claim ‘foul’. Rarely does the Bermudian get these type of perks. This is witnessed generationally to the point that it is not a surprise that our young people are giving up on our beloved island. And the gap continues and foreigners are needed with hardly any Bermudians around and the vicious cycle continues. This type of decades long exploitation has ruined the hope and job opportunities for many Bermudians! Had there been honest attempts in the beginning to engage the Bermudian, we would hardly see any of this ‘genocide on paper’. But we started to see things being systematically dismantled over the decades to enable this devious plan. Our thriving hotel college is gone. We could have been world leaders here in teaching the hotel trade. Other trade schools using skilled hands were ‘killed’ before the telecommunications age, e.g Tech college. This could have been great as well. Unnecessary financial qualifications were constantly tweaked and ‘required’ as a key skill for basic accounting duties even in these IB companies. For example needing a CFA in an area with hardly any investment duties was claimed to be needed where a CPA or CA would do. Nonsense like that. Now we are bringing in foreign construction workers and carpenters and masons and dry wallers, etc etc who are getting paid huge dollars with housing allowances etc. This is a fact.
In 2014 we should be seeing an island brimmed with talented Bermudians spilling over in ALL industries and this talent being passed down. But sadly this is far from the case. Yes the foreign company can still stay and operate here and the hotels, etc but with mostly Bermudian employees, not the opposite way around. Thanks to this Govt with their current and future policies (e.g Public Service Reform which is still on the table and this dreaded new work permit policy as an example), it will worsen and the term ‘Bermudian pride’ is hanging by a thread. Do we even know what that is nowadays?? The PLP tried but got knocked back time and again for emphasizing this Bermudian pride which is now being viewed as ‘xenophobic’. Another sick twist in the rhetoric so we cannot even express that freely now. Smh.
This dude pretends to represent people in Somerset.
He lives in St.Georges and only wants a paycheque for himself.It is like the governor of Alaska living in Florida and pretending to represent the people of Alaska!
Mr. Famouss is nothing more than a mouth piece for Dr. Dread and the followers of the PLP.
Of course this can be consrrewed as a personal attack but it is not. It is a fact.
His history of trying to get me to lie so that I can comment on his crazy site is proof.
Shalom.
Thanks for reading
If anyone is interested in canvassing hit me up. You can hear the stories for yourselves.
As for doors slammed in faces…none as everyone basically knew Jamahl and welcomed them into their yards or houses to talk
Whatsapp me if you want to hear what the people have to say first hand
599-0901
Peace out
Appreciate your passion for spending time in the community, and on the doorsteps of voters, but we have yet to hear any justification or explanations for Jamahl’s flip flops. Why?
You ask for the OBA to push out plans to the electorate but nothing on your opinion piece or other PLP releases cites what solutions they have? Why?
My sister and her family (husband & son) are still awaiting Mr. Jamahl Simmons and his entourage to return to their house to “speak” though mind you they’d left a flier in her mail box the previous day / evening while my sister and family were home
By the way, she doesn’t have any dogs running around their property…just cats 
How many of you know these lyrics: i thought it was quite appropriate.
Wake up everybody no more sleepin’ in bed
No more backward thinkin’ time for thinkin’ ahead
The world has changed so very much from what it used to be
There’s so much hatred war and poverty
Wake up all the teachers time to teach a new way
Maybe then they’ll listen to whatcha have to say
‘Cause they’re the ones who’s coming up and the world is in their hands
When you teach the children teach ‘em the very best you can
The world won’t get no better
If we just let it be
The world won’t get no better
We gotta change it yeah, just you and me
Wake up all the doctors make the old people well
They’re the ones who suffer and who catch all the hell
But they don’t have so very long before the judgment day
So won’tcha make them happy before they pass away?
Wake up all the builders time to build a new land
I know we could do it if we all lend a hand
The only thing we have to do is put it in our minds
Surely things will work out they do it every time
The world won’t get no better
If we just let it be
The world won’t get no better
We gotta change it yeah, just you and me
Change it yeah, just you and me
Change it yeah, can’t do it alone, need some help y’all
Can’t do it alone yeah
Wake up everybody, wake up everybody
Need a little help y’all, need a little help
Need some y’all to change the world from what it used to be.
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Wake Up Everybody Lyrics.
This touchy feeling article only proves that there are some dense voters in 33 who are gullible enough to vote for this splitter.
If you vote for anyone (AND I MEAN ANYONE) who has been in every party then you need your head looking at. To say this man cannot be trusted is an understatement. He resigned after a tweet talking about shooting people!!
How stupid are you people?
Anyone who votes for this flip flop – needs his head examined.
If ever I wanted to rent-a-politician Mr. Simmons would be my first choice. With his wide experience as a PLP-NLP-UBP-Ind member he clearly shows that he will stand for anything that you believe in.
Shawn Crockwell
UBP
BDA
OBA
Fahy
UBP
BDA
OBA
But I guess that is Different eh?
And you’ve been critical of that. So us it different? What of the FB comments?
When the 60/40 rule was in effect Bermuda was doing well.. There was a strict immigration policy that worked well also..IB didnt leave..Now since theres been a loosening of the policy, some people want the floodgates open..Remember Bermuda was doing well with its protectionist policies in place so one cant convince me with the fearmongering that the economy will suffer if restrictions are utilised.