Vexed Bermoothes

Sure, I read The Worker’s Voice, if only to hear the PLP loyalists express their opinions in more than the short outbursts allowed by talk radio and internet blog.

Sometimes though, I have to shake my head in wonder.  The latest issue has an apologist view of the governance issues in our current Government, saying that past administrations were no different:

“The day is late on their [the UBP and media] behalf to be talking about corruption, cronyism and nepotism, for their sword of ethics and morality is dull on both sides from way back in time.

The question to ask, is cronyism and nepotism ethical?  It may not be, but I have yet to see any newly elected government come out of the front doors of any parliament anywhere in the world and announce to the world how they would be awarding juicy million dollar contracts to any of their freinds and supporters.  They just don’t do it.

I could bet you that those in the UBP can’t wait to win back government so they too can get back to doing all of that which they have been accusing the PLP government of doing. “

This circular logic gets Bermuda nowhere.  Is the writer implying that “to the victor go the spoils – but just don’t talk about it?”  Government is not a sow to be milked for inside interests – particularly with our recent billion dollar budgets.   Two wrongs don’t make a right.  Good governance is the goal – not playing a game of tit for tat that goes on for generations.

I support the comments of UBP MP Donte Hunt in todays’ press calling for Government to champion anti-corruption legislation.  It’s not about “whose hands are the cleanest” … it’s about establishing high standards for our elected representatives of the future, as well as our ever-increasingly powerful civil service.

“It is totally unacceptable to excuse or nullify any form of corruption based on the view that Governments of the past have operated in such a manner and did nothing to resolve the issue.”

That view did nothing to mature Bermuda but instead kept the Island in perpetual regression and moral decay, said Mr. Hunt.

“It is the mandate of every Government in every new term of service to correct the wrongs of the past, improve on the milestones of yesterday and ultimately drive to make their jurisdiction a better place.”

Change came to Bermuda with the election of the PLP – and one of those changes is that when the UBP (or whatever grouping may arise) is elected to Government, the expectations placed on them will be much higher. Bermuda society has not been dominated by a “forty theives” for decades – there is much greater diversity in our power structures and corporate entities. So why are we still worrying about which insiders’ turn it is to suck at the teat of Government largesse?

One day, the impact of old identity politics will fade – and voters will place much greater emphasis on good governance TODAY and TOMORROW rather than the  battles of yesterday.  Learn from the past: serve the public, everyone, equitably.