Transport Minister Ewart Brown is wrong to view mediation in the taxi dispute as a threat to the rule of Government said one professional who has offered his services.

David Fountain, who works in California but who is an associate with Bermuda lawyer Keren Lomas, said he had written to each side in the dispute.

Taxi drivers are on strike in protest of plans to introduce global positioning systems in cabs.

Dr. Brown has said a mediator reviewing the decisions of Government would usurp the role of the courts.

But Mr. Fountain said a mediator had no such powers and would not want them but a mediator merely tried to get parties to re-think their stance to arrive at a common formula.

In a letter to he wrote: ?It may well be Dr. Brown has, to some extent, been misunderstood insofar as he may simply be standing by the principle that tolerance of any attempt to influence a Cabinet decision other than by use of the courts is indicative of weak Government.

?It seems to me, however, that the opposite may apply.

?There is no weakness in accepting, however late in the game, that another point of view may have merit or that an attempt to settle the dispute outside the court system is anything other than a noble, common-sense strategy.?

He admitted bringing the cabbies and Government together would be tough.

?However this is a far cry from the powers to conduct an arbitrary review of the ministerial and Cabinet responsibilities as Dr. Brown appears to suggest.

?The mediation process in no way usurps the purview of the courts, rather, mediation is a tool for dispute resolution used as a highly successful alternative by the court systems in most modern jurisdictions.

?Alternatives are not usurpers.?

Asked for his reaction Dr. Brown said: ?First of all there is no employer/employee relationship. Secondly Government cannot allow people who disagree with it to always have the option of mediation.

?That would just clog up the machinery of Government such as if people didn?t want a road paved in a certain way. It would become impossible.

?The Attorney General has so advised me.?

Dr. Brown conceded the taxi dispute was slightly different from pavement protests.

He added: ?We appreciate offers from people who have offered mediation but we are not going to do that.

?We have had meaningful conversations today.? He declined to comment further.