First elected for the United Bermuda Party 25 years ago, Maxwell Burgess is now contemplating his imminent retirement. But just like his former party colleague Jamahl Simmons — he is determined not to go quietly. After mounting a public call for party leader Wayne Furbert to step down he has now called time on the party itself. Here he sets out for Matthew Taylor what is needed to save Bermuda from its racial malaise.“Get economic empowerment right and race will go away.”

This is the view of Maxwell Burgess who has said it’s time to stop being so squeamish about helping those most in need of a hand-up.

“If all the data before me tells me blacks are the most underprivileged when it comes to salary and economic opportunity by way of entrepreneurship, then let’s not be bashful about who we have to help.

“Let’s not be embarrassed by saying it’s black people who need it. I am sick and tired of people telling me that they think I am racist because I want to help some black people who need it. I make no apologies for it.”

Mr. Burgess said he had entered politics to make things fairer for blacks and while not all blacks would get it right the first time, those who faltered when given opportunities should be helped through.

That lesson applied to ProActive — the contractor hired by Government to build the new Berkeley and then sacked over mounting delays and costs.

“What happened to ProActive was criminal. All of us ought to be embarrassed by what happened,” he said.

“We knew it was a new company which had never done a job that size before and we knew the civil service had never overseen a job that size before — it was the biggest job the civil service had ever seen and we had a new Government which had never presided over a job that size before.

“Everybody was new on the job — it was meant to be a learning curve for everybody. But it wasn’t long before everyone was at each others’ throats with ProActive being the victim in the end.”

He said the company’s sacking was one of the worst days in history for black people in Bermuda and Government should have stood beside ProActive because everyone would have been better off.

“We must have spent an additional $30-40 million up there. If we had stood beside ProActive it would have been completed for 50-60 percent of that money.

“The taxpayer would have been in pocket anywhere between $25 and 30 million. And ProActive and Government would have been richer from the learning curve.”

He said the PLP had succumbed to public pressure by dumping ProActive and should have taken his advice to hire an overseas management team to help run the project.

But he agreed economic empowerment was a form of affirmative action.

“I think the ProActive model had it half right — all they needed to do was partner up with a management team that had the capacity to handle a project of that size.”

The company would then have been able to run its own large projects.

Mr. Burgess said he understood Premier Ewart Brown was going to boost economic empowerment after the PLP’s slow start.

“They need to take ownership of it and take pride in it and not have it as this thing out there somewhere but I don’t want people saying things about me when I start to enforce it.”

Mr. Burgess spent his formative political years in the PLP but said he didn’t regret leaving the party.

“I recall when I was in the PLP, a very prominent member telling me I was too much of a capitalist when I merely was seeking black empowerment.

“I have made no apologies for my capitalistic behaviour. I am a firm believer that you can’t disseminate a dollar until you have generated one.”

But he said throughout his 25-year political career, he had never severed his friendships within the PLP, even though his prospects might have suffered because of that.

He said both parties needed to even out the glaring wealth disparities among the races if Bermuda was to move forward.

People didn’t worry about the colour of other people’s skins if they were doing well themselves and everyone had equal access to capital and good education, he argued.

“That’s why I feel so passionate about education and economic empowerment — they are the twin pillars which will get the issue of race behind us so fast.”

He said technical education needed to run all the way through the education system from primary to Bermuda College.

“It makes no sense to continue to do the same thing and wonder why we continue to have our young black males fall by the wayside.”

And he lashed out at the myth that being a tradesman was worthless in today’s pricey Bermuda. “People say: ‘You want my son to be a plumber or a carpenter? — It doesn’t cut it’.

“All I say is I don’t suspect they have hired them lately. When I look at the rates they charge — they range between $45 and $75 (an hour).

“If that isn’t good money in this world, I don’t know what is — and they can be kept busy all year round.

“On the other hand, we see whites and the Portuguese community going into the trades — they are doing very well and I applaud them.”