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Recently there was a published report in one of Bermuda's newspaper headlined "Premier's creditability is 'shot beyond repair".

This statement was attributed to a "Leading Delegate". If it is indeed a fact that Premier Brown's creditability "is shot beyond repair", there should be several people on trial for shooting his creditability. These would include the "leading delegate", some reporters, columnists, and others in the community, and Bermudians and migrant workers who use the new way of communicating, all blogging their dislike for Premier Brown.

"Leading Delegate" reportedly told the Mid Ocean News that no one really trusts the Premier. My questions to "Leading Delegate" are (1) how did you get to be a leading delegate?, and (2) how are you to be trusted if you do not have the courage of your convictions?

I have no doubt that there are some members of the PLP who do not trust the Premier, but I also know for certain that most PLP Members of Parliament, if not all, are not trusted by all of the people all of the time. I certainly cannot trust a group of people who meet in secret with the sole aim of destroying the party. How many times should we go down this same road?

Ironically this past weekend we celebrated the life of our first National Hero, Dame Lois Browne-Evans. Those of us who have been in the party long enough know that there were some members of the party thatdid not trust her, hence the expulsion of six "leading" PLP members, four of whom were Members of Parliament. History has revealed that Alex Scott was the Chairman of the PLP in 1979 when the six members were expelled.

Removed from Cabinet

At the 2000 Annual Delegates Conference, former PLP MP and Cabinet Minister Arthur Hodgson was nominated from the floor to serve as Party Leader. He accepted the nomination, lost the election and within 24 hours was removed from the Cabinet, and rightly so. How can a Premier trust someone to be in his/her Cabinet who has challenged for his/her leadership?

History has recorded that while the victory celebrations were taking place after the 2003 election, eleven Members of Parliament, who did not trust Dame Jennifer Smith, were meeting. As a result of that meeting a Special Delegates Conference was held to elect a new leader. The result of that election was that Alex Scott was acclaimed as Leader of the

Party and subsequently appointed by the Governor to serve as Premier of Bermuda.

At the PLP's Annual Delegates Conference in October 2006, a constitutionally held election for Party Leader took place. There were two contenders at that time, the current Premier at the time, Alex Scott, and Dr. Ewart Brown, the then Deputy Party Leader. Months before that Delegates Conference was held, Dr. Brown first made his intentions known to Premier and Party Leader Scott. Shortly after informing the Premier of his intention to contest the leadership, he made his intentions public. He then did the right thing and stepped down as a Cabinet Minister.

On October 27, 2006, the election for the Leader of the Progressive Labour Party was held. As is the case in most elections, both candidates had done their homework. They openly canvassed the branches and delegates for support. On the night of the election, both candidates gave speeches asking for support of the delegates. However, at the end of the night, Dr. Brown was elected by a majority of delegates to serve as leader of the PLP for the next four years.

'Leading Delegate' has said "Daily, PLP supporters complain about Dr. Brown's arrogant and egotistical leadership style". However, those of us who attended the National Heroes Day celebration last Sunday saw evidence to the contrary. When asked by the Chairperson of the event, MP Lovitta Foggo, to remain standing while the Premier left the field, hundreds of Bermudians gave a thunderous applause for Premier Brown as he stepped from the stage into his waiting car.

I, like most of Bermuda, am waiting to see who will be proposed as the next Leader of the Progressive Labour Party. I'm also waiting with bated breath to see which Ministers want Premier Brown removed. Will these Ministers show the same courage that Dr. Brown showed in 2006 when he offered himself as Leader of the Party? I think not.

I will say that Bermuda needs a courageous leader who is also charismatic, intelligent, has great oratorical skills and through sheer hard work is financially independent. We have that leader in Dr. Ewart Brown, and for that we all should be grateful.[[In-content Ad]]

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