THE All Bermuda Congress (ABC) is the only means for democratic change to take place on the island as neither the United Bermuda Party nor the Progressive Labour Party is interested in “giving the power to the people”, the organiser of the fledgling group stated yesterday.According to Khalid Wasi, the only way democracy can be achieved is through Constitutional change — something he promised would take place if the ABC gains power in the General Election pundits predict will be held this summer.

“In the last 15 years, both parties have failed the populace miserably,” he said. “The issue we have now is that people don’t have any power. The Government - and it doesn’t matter whether it’s the PLP or the UBP — is out of their control.

“Our real imperative is to empower people so they have the reins on the Government, so that the Government is not accountable because it feels like it, but because systemically, it has to be accountable.”

Events such as then Premier Alex Scott’s decision to ignore a petition signed by more than 15,000 voters calling for a referendum on the issue of Independence, spoke to that need he said.

“That’s the imperative right now. We’re having people protest with no resolve in spite of petitions. It doesn’t make structural sense. It’s still up to the generosity or the benevolence of the Government to decide to acquiesce to people - they don’t have to. That’s the issue that we’re faced with and so we’re outlining structural changes so that it becomes an imperative. The people will have the power to control their own destiny through their Government.

“The reason why we say Constitutional change is necessary is because (at present) a Parliament can change the laws and take out what doesn’t suit them. Once there’s a Constitutional change the people have to ratify it.

“We’ll put things there that are enshrined, that are structured so you can’t pull them out unless you go back to the people. At the end of the day, the Constitution becomes the people’s rights.”

With approximately 15 Parliamentary candidates lined up, a full-scale win at the polls is impossible — and not what the ABC is aiming for.

“We only need to win a minimum of five to six seats in order to effect all the structural changes that we think are necessary. Let’s assume that the Labour Party does not get 19 seats — we’re forecasting they’ll get 18 seats in the worst case scenario. Assuming the UBP gets 10 or 12. No party will be able to form the Government. It’s highly unlikely that the UBP will empower the PLP (in a coalition) and I doubt the PLP will want to empower the UBP. So in that circumstance they would have to come to the group in the middle. And I’m saying to you right now, the group in the middle will support any party that supports the structural changes that we represent.

“They would have to agree that one of us become the Premier. The only choice would be a second election. If they went back to the polls our organisation would have gained such credibility it’s likely the PLP would lose more seats. People would then see an opportunity for real reform, for real change.”

ABC has developed a range of proposals with the betterment of Bermuda in mind, he added. Important issues such as Independence, family, seniors and education would be addressed within a more democratic framework than the one which currently exists.

And he described a concrete plan for the island’s housing problem which would offer “immediate relief to the homeless with a temporary upgrade of existing Government properties” and in the long-term, establish “a Government programme using Government-donated land as collateral, to supply 2,000 units which would also accommodate low-income families with rental units ranging from $600 to $1,200 a month, with an option to purchase at approximately $1,750 per month”.

Additional Constitutional change would see General Elections held on fixed dates every four years and Premiers prohibited from serving more than two terms and elected by the voting public, not individual parties.

According to Mr. Wasi, the election of ABC would see a tri-party Government with proportional representation in Cabinet.

“We will structurally remove the potential of any dictatorship developing for all time,” he said. “The difference between ABC and what currently exists is that the current party models are based on a hierarchy, whatever the party manifesto is, that rules supreme. You either support it or you leave — the PLP has proved that at least twice in history, booting out five or six people because they didn’t agree. Our organisation is based on giving primacy to the individual. The individual has his own integrity and his own individual right - always. The philosophy is based on (MPs) working directly with their constituents and arguing for their constituents.”

The changes ABC is proposing are a direct response to Bermuda’s current political climate, he said.

“People are frightened, very frightened. And that’s the sad part. We’ve gone back to the 1960s when people were afraid to talk.”

As one who fought against segregation and for civil rights, Mr. Wasi confessed he found the situation “disheartening”.

“I was a part of the march for freedom and what seems to be happening is, the very things that we fought against are beginning to reappear. It’s disheartening to me. Many of those who fought with me in the ‘60s and ‘70s, people who knocked down establishments, who pulled down kings as it were, are building edifices to themselves — bigger than the ones we tore down.

“I think it was Senator Dudley Thompson who said it just appears that we as a (black) people are interested in sitting in places where white people used to sit. That seems to be the goal today but I coin it in my own way. All of us who witnessed oppression in the ‘60s and ‘70s and so on, I’m of the opinion that some people were more interested in getting the whip out of the masters’ hands than the freedom we were trying to achieve.”

Against that backdrop it was even more important to make constitutional change which would establish Bermuda as a democracy, he said.

“The experiment of democracy has been an ongoing thing for centuries and centuries and from a democratic perspective, what Bermuda needs to do is get into the experience of trying to evolve our democracy. I think the majority of people — even if they don’t understand it — need it.

“What we’re trying to do is highlight the weaknesses, the powers they don’t have. The Labour Party’s been selling people the idea of one man one vote and one vote of equal value. The only value it has is to elect a person to office. After that it’s finished. We want to have a voters’ bill of rights, which would allow — amongst other things — your right to go to (a designated location) and advance a proposition if you feel the Government isn’t advancing it, that no party is advancing it. If you believe an MP has breached a certain code - you voted for that person, you put him in, it was a contract, you can recall him. So there’s a slew of rights voters need to have. It’s not so much about ABC as it is about their own rights which we’re trying to enhance.”

Candidates would be named in the coming weeks, Mr. Wasi said explaining that the delay had come in ensuring that ABC was on the same page with regard to its philosophy and principles.

“It’s not just a matter of candidates standing,” he said. “The candidates have to understand what they’re standing for. From a structural angle, ABC is not simply a wild bunch of independents with loose agendas. We didn’t want people to simply announce themselves without having been armed on our philosophy, what the issues are and the organisation structure. In order to be able to bring about these changes, there has to be an organised effort. It can’t happen by just having (a bunch of candidates) who have no real idea of cohesion or no set agenda - it can’t happen.”

Every candidate that stands for ABC will have signed on to a code which will be published in newspapers along with relevant information about the party, beginning May 1, he added.

“I’m trying to stimulate a people’s revolution where people come out and stand and once and for all, fix our country, fix our democracy. So that the power, structurally, is in the people’s hands. Don’t focus on me or ABC, focus on your own rights, focus on your need to have power in your hands and how you’re going to achieve it. It’s not going to come from the Progressive Labour Party. It will not come from the United Bermuda Party either. If Dr. Brown and the PLP were interested in giving the people power, it would become their platform. If they did, I’d support them tomorrow. But I’m convinced, as someone who has worked for both parties, that neither party wants the people to have this kind of power.”