Simone Barton Acclaimed As OBA Chairperson
[Updated] Simone Barton has been acclaimed as the new Party Chairperson of the One Bermuda Alliance, the OBA announced today.
“I am delighted about the outcome”, said Mrs Barton. “The OBA is being revitalized as a party under the leadership of Craig Cannonier.
“This OBA is not only the party that will hold the Government to account, but it is also the party that will be ready to govern Bermuda in the way it so desperately needs.
“With employment down, GDP down, the volume of retail sales down and business confidence at its lowest, there is much work that must be done to stop Bermuda from its rapid decline into another economic abyss. The sound economic foundation created by the former OBA administration is clearly and swiftly being eroded by the current PLP Government.”
The OBA noted, “Mrs Barton is the CEO of the Bermuda Heart Foundation and Founder of CORE Heart Health Center, an innovative state-of-the-art center, which provides life-saving programmes and services.
“She raised more than $750,000 to establish CORE, and successfully championed for having cardiac prevention qualify as an insurable benefit.
“Mrs Barton ran for the Party in the 2017 election in the constituency of Hamilton West. She was acclaimed as Party Chair after Nandi Outerbridge withdrew from the election process,” the OBA said.
Mr Cannonier said: “Simone is someone who does things and does them well. She is exactly the kind of person the OBA needs and I am delighted to welcome her as our new Party Chair.”
“I would like to thank Nandi Outerbridge for her contribution and service to the party and I hope that she will continue to be involved.
“I will shortly make the Shadow Cabinet and Senate announcements. The people of Bermuda will know that this OBA means business and is about the People’s business.”
The former OBA Chairperson, Justin Mathias, resigned from the position last month, one of several changes within the OBA recently.
Update October 8, 9.34am: PLP Chairman Owen Darrell said, “The new chair of the OBA has begun her tenure with the same old pattern of misinformation that was the hallmark of the “Old” OBA.
“The facts totally disprove the tired and desperate deceipt promoted by the OBA.
“Under the PLP
- Government Revenues are up!
- Government spending is down!
- The deficit is down by 24%!
- Visitor air arrivals are up!
- Bermudian Employment in the economy is up!
“The ‘new’ OBA wants to bring back the Michael Fahy agenda where non-Bermudian jobs grew while Bermudian jobs vanished and where pathways to status further displaces Bermudians.
“The faces may change in the OBA but the same old tactics of misinformation and anti-Bermudian policies remain unchanged.
“We are making progress, but remain dissatisfied so long as any Bermudian is unemployed, can’t make ends meet no matter how hard they work or see anywhere but Bermuda as a land of opportunity. Despite the ongoing misinformation campaign being perpetrated by the OBA we remain committed to building a fairer, better Bermuda for Bermudians.”
excellent! this is good news for the party. she will get things sorted!
You say that about every new chairman. Look how far the obaUBPers have fallen. Hope she enjoys her temp position. Never could understand why some feel the need to be controlled and accepted in this party. My people never learn.
*My people never learn.*
Hmm , I think that that one is best left alone .
Subtle racism….perhaps not so subtle anymore.
What did Hmmmm mean by “my people never learn”? Wasn’t that racism?
Is that racism when your gang of eight party wants to kick out the UBP. How’s is that so different. This is the very reason the plp will win. We as a party keep trying to change the name and in reality we have done nothing wrong. The UBP did good things for Bermuda. Question you`re a fool trying to win votes. The problem is not the UBP, it’s people like you that give this party a bad taste in the voters mouths.
“My people never learn”. A racist comment. Divisive and sickening. The PLP are Bermuda’s right wing racist Trump party.
You have the nerve. Calling the plp…..plpubp. Call it by it’s real definition……black members and black voters have left the oba and ubp over the years. Instead of trying to find out why your only answer is to get away from the UBP. Nick kempyy is not even saying why! Did they use black members & voters or not?
That’s the real highlight and the elephant in the room that the OBA refuses to address or talk about.
LOl, PLP has two former UBP leaders and one former UBP chair!
No – it should be highlighted! That attitude is why we are in such a mess!
I say that about every new chairman? Really?
Look how the plpubp remain the same
25plp to 11obaUBP seats is not the same lololol. Now your trying to cast blame on Micheal Dunkely when Craig Trump was the jetgate Premeir. How do you go from having a repectible gentleman to Craig. You can’t be serious to believe the voters will select Craig over Mr. Dunkely.
Absolutely we will! Dunkely is not as you try to make him out to be! Follow the AC money!
Your making allegations. You gang of 8 didn’t say this before the 2017 election. Now you throw the man under the bus. Last I check he didn’t hijack the party and place the so called Craig Trump as the saviour of the 7 fools.
Congratulations Simone!!!!
Congratulations, Simone. All the best to you.
As the chairman young lady your first mission should be why so many black voters and former members have departed from the UBPOBA over the years essentially giving the PLP a 25 seat win over the UBPOBA 11 seat win. Also why change the name and why do some of your own members want to get rid off the UBP all together. If we’re going to be honest when the UBP was in charge Bermuda was global paradise. So why now are they so bad. Are you only caters to the masses or was that party really racist?k
As a PLP voter I’m not going to say Michael Dunkely was a bad leader. He is definitely smarter than Craig Trump. I think he could do more good by joining the PLP, but his so called UBPoba friends would all disown him the same way the gang of eight want to do now. Funny how the wheels have turned and they worried so much about the PLP when the real enemy was sitting in their own camp.
Up hill battle with a down the hill gang. Glad the PLP, as a party, left the OBA alone to sort itself out. You mean the OBA senator’s are gone having accomplished nothing. Now Nick Kempe will replace “Martin Luther King” Cannonier just before
the next election. NOSTRADAMAS
“. I think he could do more good by joining the PLP”
He’s not welcome in the PLP…we all know this, stop trying to play dumb.
Wow. The irony of a plp supporter calling someone else trump is staggering. I think you are saying that bc you know your party did exactly what trump did to win the election – xenophobic. You know its true so now trying to pawn it off on someone else! Lol!
Question??? Waiting for your answers.
Shifting the deck chairs on the Costa Concordia?
Inane comment.
The OBA needs new blood . Congratulations Simone .
The Oba is the the birth child of the BDA and UBP. Bad blood is the only thing keeping the gang of eight alive. It makes no sense when the 5% of black membership is controlling the 95% of white membership. The party has claimed to be diverse but the voters don’t see it that way anymore and now the black membership want to distant themselves from the UBP. BUT WHY???? Many black voters supported the UBP over the years thus the reason why they always won.
Neither PLP or OBA wanted to run your blood. The PLP kick you to the curb when you was a member and the oba has you as a male cheerleader.
“Craig Trump”? Now thats funny considering the majority of PLP party and their supporters have very similar beliefs as Trump. I am not a OBA supporter either, and really wish a new party was formed, but the hypocrisy is nuts when I read some of these comments. OBA are VERY lucky to have Simone Barton, although I wish she were chairman of a new party.
So some say we need to get rid of the old guard in the OBA,so do we also get rid of the old guard in the PLP ?( once members of the UBP) Furbert,Simmons.Swan,did I forget anyone else.
The only thing I see is that they departed with all the other black members and voters that allowed the UBP to win over the last 50 years.
I’m sure you remember who helped you win and now who has assisted in your destruction, former flip flops of one segment of the community. Instead of blasting them you need to eat apple pie and perform some research and find out why black Bermudians stop believing in the UBP. CRAIG TRUMP IS YOUR LEADER WOW IS THE PICKINGS THAT BAD.
The group that has practiced racism in Bermuda are whites.
Even on the political front Ms. Barton like her leader who continues to be in denial, both represent the black face of a party that derives on average 85 per cent of its electoral support from the white community. With on average 97 per cent of whites who do vote voting for historically white parties. Firstly the UBP and now the OBA.
And until behavior changes in Bermuda that will continue. That has been the fundamental problem for the last 50 plus years in Bermuda politics.
Another expression of white privilege in Bermuda.
But it can only work with people are fronting for them. That explains its persistence over decades.