Vexed Bermoothes

The PLP pays a lot of lip service to transparency and accountability but, based on their actions, one has to question their actual commitment.

The PLP leadership refuses to allow the Public Accounts Committtee (PAC) of the House of Assembly to meet in public – an abberation among modern democracies.

And, it appears that the PLP members of the PAC are stifling its work by not appearing at its meetings, with a senior PLP member deriding it as simply “a talk shop.”

The PAC is the cross-party parliamentary committee tasked with scrutinising the spending of public money.  Its work is vital … particularly given the Bermuda Government’s spiralling budgets, skyrocketing national debt, and two years of audit Qualified Opinions.

I call on the Bermuda Government to open meetings of the Public Accounts Committee, and for all its members to actively participate.  It is irresponsible – and arguably unconstitutional – for the House of Assembly to neglect its duty to protect the public purse.  And the secrecy of the PAC’s workings allows the neglect and political games to continue.