Dear Sir,

In the 2008 by-election in Southampton East, I recall a reporter asking how I considered the All Bermuda Congress loss, having gained only 25 votes. I said we did not lose. Bermuda lost and will live to see it.

At the time, I argued both parties were redundant and were remnants of the struggle of desegregation. More so I argued that Bermuda and its population had grown past the constructs of that old battle between the two parties and could be better served by a more contemporaneous organisation and new approach. The population, particularly the younger and future generations, were waiting for it.

I canvassed heavily and billed the by-election a referendum for the United Bermuda Party to choose reform or die a natural death because it was incapable of returning to government. On the doorsteps and living rooms, most everyone agreed, but would end with the comment, “a vote for me was indeed a vote for the Progressive Labour Party” — and that was the mantra for their platform.

Four years later in 2012, they collapsed into the realisation that there was the need and appetite for something new. The One Bermuda Alliance was formed and a buzz of a whole new approach to governance was on the way.

If any understood the aim of the ABC, you would see the OBA as adopting in some cases similar rhetoric. Like the presidential debate in the United States, Bernie Sanders, whether he wins or not, has gained considerable attraction because he believes in what he is saying. His ideas resonate with my approach to governance and people’s rights.

However, the way the OBA went about forming left me curious, and I can recall in a television interview asking the question of how can you have an organisation tout reform when it has no change agents on board?

The thin veneer was ripped down from within by the conservative element, while some remnants of hope survive among new members. But even that hope is really buttressed by fear of a Progressive Labour Party government and not ideals.

So here we are now in 2016 at the Armageddon of the “us versus them”, as opposed to what I envisioned as an “All Bermuda Congress” where every voter mattered and participation was everyone’s right.

The PLP history and connection with the struggle make it more durable, but its format also is in just as bad a need of reform. No, I am not announcing any thought of resurrecting an ABC; just déjà vu. I saw it coming. With the players on board, it was almost unavoidable.

KHALID WASI