“House of Cards”

The last 24 hours has been an interesting time in my country of Bermuda.

It played out like the last episode of House of Cards but it was 100 percent reality. In the last episode of House of Cards the President of the United States of America is forced to step down under the auspices of wrong doings with a close friend and business associate.

Sadly, a similar thing has happened in my 21 square mile paradise which I call the island of Bermuda.

Last year a scandal developed in Bermuda which the media appropriately titled #JetGate. Our then premier Craig Cannonier, with two members of his cabinet, was said to have flown on a private jet to DC courtesy of real estate millionaire Nathan Landow. Cannonier never reported to the house of parliament and it was originally leaked to the media a few weeks after the incident occurred. Initial reports of the incident stated that he was being wined and dined by Landow in order to win a proposed casino license on the island. It was also revealed that Cannonier’s own personal businesses were suffering and he looked to partner with Landow to improve his own financial position.

Cannonier initially denied any wrong doing but the allegations being thrown his way started to pile up. He was the head of a new party called the One Bermuda Alliance (OBA), formally the UBP, which trumped it’s allegiance to the future of Bermuda and total transparency within the government. This episode was starting to damage the credibility of the party itself and there was an emergency meeting last night to discuss the next steps of the party.

Today it was announced that Craig Cannonier would step down as premier and be replaced by the deputy premier, Michael Dunkley. Dunkley is a successful businessman on the island as the sole provider of local milk as well as other drinks and products. This announcement has already caused a lot of strife on the island and only adds to the racial divide we currently face. There are many people that say that Cannonier was a puppet all along and Dunkley was waiting in the shadows to claim the throne.

Whether that is true or not, time will tell. All I do know is that as a first world nation we are looking very unstable right now and it is not a good look for the outside world. We need to come together and find solutions to our ailments fast, or else we will surely be in trouble. Politics is only one facet of a nation but it’s the one facet that is always in the spotlight. These actors need to shape up, for our children’s sake and the future of the island itself.