An Opposition MP claims he has found it impossible to gain employment owing to political discrimination. Jamahl Simmons said he has seen at least six jobs snatched away, with some employers explaining they are afraid of angering the ruling Progressive Labour Party.

The MP, who has now given up seeking employment while he serves as Shadow Minister for Race Relations, Economic Empowerment and Transport, said: "This has happened on at least six occasions. In most of them, people told me I was qualified but that 'between them and I' they simply couldn't risk incurring the wrath of the government. In some instances they simply didn't want elected officials at all working for them."

Mr. Simmons, 35, suspects that many of the companies ? which he declined to name ? were motivated by a fear of having valuable government contracts pulled if they employed him. "What has been disturbing is that in almost every single instance someone either told me this up front or I found out about it later from employees or people connected with the relevant employer," he said. "I have resigned myself to the fact that as long as I'm in Opposition I will never get a job in Bermuda, so I'm using my skills the best I can and enjoying the freedom that I have."

He claimed that the problem is widespread, and that numerous UBP MPs and candidates have experienced the same. However, he has not reported his personal concerns to the Human Rights Commission, explaining: "Most of what I have said can't be proven and I'm sure that even if I raised it publicly they would deny they ever said anything."

Mr. Simmons, who describes himself as "a jack of all trades," worked as a broadcast journalist with DeFontes Broadcasting Company before moving to a position as a marketing assistant with Shell which he gave up in 2003. He said of his experiences since then: "I don't want to come across like a whiner or a victim ? the politics of economic victimisation has been a common practise in Bermuda for years. I simply have been one of the few folks who will be open about it. I have resigned myself that I will probably never be employed in Bermuda so long as I am involved in politics. But rather than whine about it, spending the rest of my days walking on bended knee to be rejected by employer after employer, I have decided to take control of my situation. The plus side is that I have more time to be with my family and I have refocused on expanding my skills in the fields of PR and communications."

Mr. Simmons did not wish to discuss his personal financial circumstances as a result of the alleged discrimination beyond saying: "I'm in a position where I don't have to work." However, he intends to begin law classes in the coming year, explaining: "I had been mulling over this for some time but after a prominent local company made me verbal offer for employment and then reneged on it I decided that the time had come to create new opportunities for myself. Being repeatedly denied employment because of my political affiliation is extremely disheartening but I have chosen to find it empowering, as I owe nothing to anyone but God, my family, the people who elected me to office and the colleagues who serve at my side."

UBP Senator Gina Spence Farmer agreed with Mr. Simmons's remarks about political discrimination, saying: "It's real and it happens on many different levels."

Mrs. Spence Farmer was appointed a United Bermuda Party senator despite her then employer Bermuda College barring its staff from political office. The College refused to allow her to take time in lieu to sit in the Senate, and she eventually quit her job last November saying she felt her employer forced her hand by refusing to look at compromise options.

"I still don't clearly understand why it happened. I think that the reality of serving the UBP has it's downside," she said. "I can't find any logical reason for what happened. The only thing that changed was that I joined the UBP and until that point there were no problems. I was quite honoured to be chosen by the party but what I experienced in the interim was very difficult."

Mrs. Spence Farmer, who now works part time for the Ministry of Youth and Sport, also claimed to have been asked to step down as compere at Harbour Nights by the event organisers after gaining political office. "I was told it was to do with the fact that I'm now a member of the UBP," said the Senator.

Asked for the PLP perspective on Mr. Simmon's remarks, campaign chairman Walter Roban said: "I would implore him to report any such experiences to the Human Rights Commission. Certainly the Employment Act passed by the PLP affords protection against job discrimination. Any form of discrimination is unfortunate, and no Bermudian should face it."

Sen. Roban added that members of the PLP had historically faced discrimination on the basis of their political affiliation too.