Vexed Bermoothes

It’s uncanny how the Premier manages to be far far away whenever there’s a bad announcement that needs to be made.

Today it was revealed that the new Auditor General has issued a Qualified Opinion on the Bermuda Government Consolidated Fund for the year ended March 31, 2009 due to “deficiencies in internal controls in the management of certain capital development projects”.

Needless to say, a Qualified Opinion is bad.  Finance Minister Cox has issued a statement:

“when an Auditor General speaks, Governments listen and take heed. This Government is no different and we consistently look to how we can enhance and strengthen our controls and governance institutions.”

Apparently Government takes little heed, as these concerns about poor internal controls have been escalating for several years … and Government’s most vigorous response appears to have been the bitter personal attacks on prior auditor Larry Dennis.

The official response to the mega cost overruns (think Berkeley and Kings Wharf) and misexpenditure (think Music Festival) appears to be “it doesn’t matter in the big picture”.

Well, it does matter.

Bermuda’s net debt nearly doubled in 2008/09 – growing by $205 million and standing at $485 million at the end of the year.

And that’s before the economic crisis began.

Minister Cox’s comments that the Qualified Opinion may somehow result from the international recession are hogwash.  Government managed to overrun its budget — which was already massively larger than the previous year — by $100 million.  Most of this was due to runaway spending – not reduced income.  In my opinion, she is continuing the PLP “blame game” hoping that people will attribute her Government’s inadequacies to external factors rather than closely scrutinize their continued poor performance.  After ten years in power, the training wheels should be off.  Instead, the PLP are still wobbling along in a heedless general direction, spilling taxpayer money at every twist and turn.