“I don’t make promises that I don’t know I can fulfil,” said Diallo Rabain of his campaign in Devonshire North Central for the Progressive Labour Party.

“I will do my best to investigate and get back to the people here, but I am not going to promise them the world and then deliver nothing. They have my word that I will look into it and get back to them.”

Mr Rabain spent his formative years in Constituency 13, having grown up on Vesey Street before moving back to the Devil’s Hole.

While the reception on the doorstep has been “phenomenal” during his two months of canvassing, Mr Rabain has found many of its residents struggling to make ends meet.

“A very big concern is the economy; it is people who are not working or who are not able to find adequate employment,” he said.

“I’ve come across quite a few people who have huge issues with financial assistance. After listening to their stories and understanding what they’re going through, it supports the PLP’s call for a re-examination of financial assistance and a revamping of how it works. I’ve run into quite a number of people who say that if they had a little bit of help, they could make it, but that because of circumstances like owning a house or having a car, they are being turned away.

“What will happen is they will be turned away until they get rid of their car and lose their house until they become a bigger burden.

“They just need a little assistance right now.”

Others, he said, were “desperately trying to get off financial assistance” but getting nowhere with courses provided by the Department of Workforce Development.

He is married, with a five-year-old daughter now in Elliot Primary School, where he is head of the parent teacher association.

Mr Rabain stepped down as the Opposition Leader in the Senate earlier this month to run for parliament in Devonshire North Central.

With a background in electronic engineering, he worked for six years in the Department of Works and Engineering, then became a founding partner of Compu-CAD, a company specialising in architectural drafting, land surveying and project management.

He has served on government boards in education, the government scholarship committee, and Commission for Unity and Racial Equality, the Road Safety Council, the Architectural Advisory Council, the National Training Board and the Bermuda College board of governors. Mr Rabain is now the community service chairman for the Outstanding Teen Awards.

Mr Rabain said he has “always had a passion for community service”. A former police reserve, he is an executive member of both the Eastern County Cricket Association and Harrington Workman’s Club, and is closely involved in the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

He characterised Devonshire North Central as a strongly family-oriented constituency where many voters express worries over the Island’s ailing educational system.

“I’m running for parliament because I feel I have something to offer to the people of Bermuda, and more specifically the constituents I’m running for,” Mr Rabain said. “It has been a rewarding experience, knocking on doors, meeting people and reintroducing myself.”