Commissiong to South African President Mr. Nelson Mandela in a Press release from the PLP by-election Campaign Committee.

The statement was in response to comments made by the Minister of Health and Social Services the Hon. Quinton Edness and the United Bermuda Party for their criticism of the PLP's candidate selection process.

"Mr. Edness should realise, as the Minister responsible for prisons and the rehabilitation of individuals who pass through the system, that it is the hope of the community that prison is not an end but in actual fact a beginning for an inmate,'' the committee said. "We need only look to the example of recently elected Congressman Hewey Newton who served a prison term because of his involvement with the Black Panthers and the world recently saluted the accomplishments of the most famous prisoner/politician Mr. Nelson Mandela, who was in prison for being, in the eyes of some, a political terrorist.'' The statement added that Mr. Commissiong has established a most respectable reputation as a journalist and assistant controller at a legal firm.

"He now wishes to put something back into the community.'' On Sunday Mr.

Edness told The Royal Gazette that he disagreed with Opposition leader Mr.

Frederick Wade's choice of Mr. Commissiong as a candidate for Paget East.

The by-election Campaign Committee's statement also said: "Mr. Commissiong is a young man who in his first release to the media conceded that he has made a `mistake' just as other young men.

"However, it is curious that the UBP Government instead of focusing on the whole question of disenfranchisement of many of its own supporters has chosen to criticise our candidate selection process.'' The statement added: "One would have thought the UBP have more than enough issues to grapple with in its own candidates selection process including the unseemly haste with which a by-election was announced.'' They added that the PLP wanted to know if the UBP and its candidates in the forthcoming by-election agree with the Mr. Edness' views on rehabilitation.

"In Mr. Commissiong, we have a young man who has turned his life around in the most positive manner.

"He has set an example for young men who have made a `mistake' which says its never too late to take control of one's life in the most positive and constructive manner.''