Dear Sir,

LaVerne Furbert was on ZBM TV news last Thursday night warning that the recent turmoil within the Progressive Labour Party parliamentary group is history repeating itself.

She was referring to the split back in 1985, which resulted in the formation of the National Liberal party and decimated the ranks of the PLP, stalling its election chances for another decade.

The split back in 1985 was sparked by MP Austin Thomas’s call and comment that the direction of the party must change. He was referring to the anti-business stance of leader Dame Lois Browne Evans, who he thought prevented conservative supporters from embracing the party.

Significant about those times was that the party expelled the dissident group; unlike today, where the dissidents remain within, with somewhat of a backbench voice in the party.

While the threat may seem to Ms Furbert the same as yesteryear, there are several differences. The chief of which there is no committee formed to discipline the dissident group and the reasons for the split over the leadership are entirely different. It is questionable whether the dissident group in this leadership episode are more forward-thinking than the leader.

In some ways, the ongoing Commission of Inquiry may be vindicating Marc Bean’s position. Marc has drawn disfavour because of his “mouth” but on the positive side he has tried to characterise a leadership aim of cleansing the party from the perception of corruption.

The dilemma becomes a conundrum when we consider the two camps, which street talk has it roughly lined up as Ewart Brown and crew against Marc Bean and much of the young and grassroot supporters.

The party, unlike Ms Furbert’s assertions, does not seem to be falling apart over the issue, however the outcome of which faction reigns will have significant ramifications on the directions of the party and possibly the country going forward.

A third choice of parachuting new talented persons into the safer PLP seats would have the effect of a fresh approach and may be the better alternative for the PLP. But orchestrating such a scheme to create new leadership, given the party’s constitutional constraints, may not be possible.

So the party is back to the old Bermuda motto “Quo Fata Ferunt” (“wherever destiny leads us”).

KHALID WASI