OBA’s hypocrisyMay 20, 2011Dear Sir,I have followed with great interest the merging or reuniting of the BDA with former colleagues of the UBP to a “new” party, One Bermuda Alliance (OBA).I commend the OBA on its verbal commitment to enhanced democracy in Bermuda and I as understand it, the party has as a few of its tenets (1) fixed term elections, (2) right to petition for referendums and (3) introduction of a recall system. All of these would certainly be enhancements to democracy in Bermuda, however ... this notion of enhanced democracy, for me, is overshadowed by the fact that John Barritt, Trevor Moniz and the remaining UBP MPs who resigned from the UBP to form the OBA have yet to resign their Parliamentary seats to fight by-elections. Many will recall that I felt very strongly that Sean Crockwell, Donte Hunt and Mark Pettingill should have done the same thing when they resigned from the UBP to form the BDA because enhanced democracy also means greater input by the electorate. I recall very vividly, one staunch UBP supporter, Robert Davies and one potential UBP candidate, Jefferson Sousa, speaking as loudly as I about the need for the BDA MPs to resign and fight by-elections in the name democracy and each time I made comments along these lines on the BDA Facebook page Robert Davies was right there standing beside me. Yet, the silence on calls for similar actions on the part of the former UBP MPs is deafening because now the shoe is on the other foot for these two gentlemen. What was good for the goose is not good for the gander.A quote from Mr Davies on the BDA Facebook page February 24, 2010: “My question is why you all who sat as MPs for the UBP think you have the right to continue to sit in those seats? You were not elected in those seats carrying your new beloved banner of BDA but rather that of the UBP. It seem quite fraudulent and downright dishonourable for you to sit prim and proper in seats you didn’t win under your new party, but rather under the UBP.” This is a copy and paste, I have made no changes to its content.Yet now that Mr Davies is a supporter of the OBA he has made a 180 degree turn on his principals and now that these MPs are a part of the OBA their positions have become honourable ... this is nothing short of laughable and clear about selective support of enhanced democracy.Clearly the OBA, like the BDA, are not as fully committed to enhanced democracy as they claim because they refuse to give the electorate the choice as to whether they still wish these persons to represent them in the House of Assembly. The last I checked enhanced democracy was about giving the electorate a stronger, more powerful voice. While I would not assume that the electorate of these sitting MPs would not re-elected them, from a pure democracy perspective the electorate should at least be allowed to have a direct say via the polls.It is good to know that politics still involves hypocritical positions by those who feel their side is always the right side.GUILDEN M GILBERT JrNassau, Bahamas