Dear Sir,

Point 1: Are we really trying to get more people into Bermuda to contribute to the economy, the pension fund, etc? If so, why is the Government not granting Bermuda status? If I’m correct, it is are granting permanent residency to spouses of Bermudians only after a certain time. I appreciate this is a rhetorical question and I don’t expect to get an answer.

Point 2: I would like to put forward a suggested plan. A group of intelligent, business-minded, economy-minded people get together. It does not matter with which political party they are affiliated — if affiliated at all. This group may include the following:

Michael Dunkley, Sir John Swan, David Sullivan, Nathan Kowalski, Scott Pearman, Douglas De Couto, Glen Smith, Vic Ball, Beverley Connell, Ian Walker, Luis Martin, Patrice O'Connor, Glenn Jones, Kevin Dallas, David Lopes, Shirley Dill, Sara Bosch de Noya, J.J. Soares and Dexter Smith. Last but certainly not least, Curtis Dickinson and some other members of the ruling government party. (I know I have left out some valuable people — certainly women! — whose names escape me right now.)

You will never convince me that there are no members and MPs of the PLP who don’t think or won’t admit that we need a change, and that the Government should be going in a different direction. I mention Curtis Dickinson because I think he would run the country like a business, and it needs to be.

This group would then brainstorm about what’s wrong with Bermuda and what needs to be changed. We all complain about what’s wrong and what needs to be done, but we do not hear a lot of suggestions about what to do to correct the problems. The people mentioned above would not necessarily stand for office, and this brainstorming would take some time. However, out of that may come a group of concerned citizens who want to come forward and help Bermuda by running for office.

They need to look intently throughout our community, our businesses, banks, service industries, etc, and talk to accountants, doctors, teachers, engineers, and hopefully come up with a group to represent us in government and start to fix things!

We need the guidance of engineers to manage the Department of Works and Engineering, doctors and medical people to manage health, teachers and educators to manage education, etc. It may mean creating a new party — perhaps the “Save Bermuda Party”.

Further as mentioned on a recent talk show, we need to be careful about who we vote into office. They need to be qualified for their portfolios. We should not vote for people because they are neighbours, friends, because we played football or cricket with them, or because our children go to school together.

Talking about representation, we have not seen the MP for our district since the election. If a Member of Parliament has a busy job in the private sector, so be it. But don’t ask me to vote for you to represent me if you’re not going to visit me or talk to me when I call you. We get a call from his secretary on our birthdays. However, we want to see our MPs, to ask them questions about what they are doing for Bermuda, and maybe get some answers about their plans to heal our economy and our country.

Finally, we do not need showmen or savvy politicians; we need people to fix what’s wrong and to get the economy and the island back to a healthier state.

LIBBY MADEIROS

Devonshire