Ewart Brown
Ewart Frederick Brown Jr. (born 1946) has been the Premier of Bermuda since 30 October 2006. He is also leader of the Progressive Labour Party (PLP).
Contents |
Early life
Born in Bermuda, Brown was educated at the public Central School (today known as Victor Scott Primary) in Pembroke before moving to Jamaica. He later attended university in the United States of America, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from the historically black Howard University. As a student leader, he was a vocal figure during the Washington riots, speaking alongside campus radicals and Black Panther leaders such as Stokely Carmichael. After earning an M.D. from Howard's College of Medicine, he moved to Los Angeles, to pursue a Master of Public Health from the University of California. Brown remained in the United States for a time, opening a medical practice in Los Angeles and adopted US citizenship.
Political life
Brown eventually returned to Bermuda and became involved in local politics. In 1993 he ran as a Progressive Labour Party candidate in the Warwick West constituency. In the previous election, Warwick West's two seats were won by the United Bermuda Party's Quinton L. Edness and John H. Sharpe, and the two were prepared to again win. Brown managed to dominate the early vote counts, and ended only two votes behind Edness in the final count. While he had not outright won, he did manage to take Sharpe's seat in Parliament.
In the following General Election in 1998, Brown again won one of the Warwick West seats, and was joined by another PLP candidate during the PLP's unprecedented victory of the UBP. With the PLP in control of Parliament, Brown was appointed to Cabinet as the Minister of Transport after renouncing his U.S. passport.
Following the PLP's second General Election victory in 2003, Brown led an internal power struggle in the PLP against Premier Jennifer M. Smith. A compromise between factions of the party led to Smith being replaced by William Alexander Scott and Brown being named Deputy Premier, and later adding the Ministry of Tourism to his responsibilities.
As Minister of Transport, Brown introduced a number of reforms, including the replacement of the island's ferries with faster models.
On October 12, 2006, Brown resigned from Cabinet to make a second bid for leadership. At a previously scheduled party delegates conference on the evening of October 27, he managed to defeat incumbent Alex Scott by 107 to 76, and was sworn in as Premier on October 30.
Brown is a divisive figure, who often resorts to incendiary racial provocation in response to critics of his performance, policies and ethics. He has never addressed allegations that he was involved in a Pay to Play fundraiser with Bermuda's pension fund managers in 2003 in addition to a controversial undisclosed sale of a property to the Government's Bermuda Housing Corporation.
Outside of politics
Brown's activities outside of political life include the position of Medical Director of Bermuda HealthCare Services Limited, and has been a Trustee for both Howard University and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. He has also served as a professor for Drew's Department of Family Practice, and was a director of the Marcus Garvey School.
External links
Categories
1946 births | Bermudian people | Living people | Howard University alumni