OBA: Govt will ignore Ombudsman

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Shadow Environment Minister Michael Fahy last night predicted Government would sit back and do nothing despite another report highlighting its poor governance.

Senator Fahy said Environment Minister Marc Bean had already slipped into the “modus operandi” of attacking the independent official who accused Government of acting unlawfully over the Tucker’s Point development row.

“I expect that the Minister and the Cabinet will simply wait until this matter fades from the public’s memory, and then carry on as normal. That is their modus operandi. How sad,” said Sen Fahy in a statement.

He added that Ombudsman Arlene Brock’s report, which stated Government failed to hold public consultation and dismissed complainants as “tree-huggers”, “the usual voices” and “alarmists”, reflects badly on the Progressive Labour Party Government’s commitment to the democratic process.

“What an indictment it is of a Government that says it is committed to transparency, but behaves as if the public cannot be trusted with information,” said Sen Fahy.

Ms Brock’s report, tabled last Friday, said Government acted unlawfully by failing to conduct an assessment of the environmental impact of developing the resort before MPs granted it a special development order.

Sen Fahy contrasted Nelson Mandela’s attitude of welcoming judgment from outside bodies with Mr Bean’s reaction on Friday, in which he called Ms Brock’s impartiality into question.

“Frankly I expected more from the Minister, who is now in an unenviable position of trying to explain away another failure by his predecessor, former Minister Roban, of being open and transparent,” said Sen Fahy.

“Why not say instead ‘We made a fundamental error; we are sorry.’”

Mr Bean had said on Friday that it was peculiar for Ms Brock to get involved because Government had put the SDO into the public domain by getting approval via a House of Assembly and Senate vote.

The Minister stated: “As the investigation was based upon an ‘own motion’ rationale, for which there are no guidelines in Bermuda law, it is left in doubt whether the outcome is without bias.”

Ms Brock also noted Government had broken its bond to treat Bermuda’s environment in an enlightened fashion, asking: “Is our word our bond? Do we wish to be in the 21st Century of good governance?”

Sen Fahy said: “I don’t know that there could be any greater indictment of a democratic Government’s actions and intent. All of us in Bermuda must hang our heads in shame.”

Premier Paula Cox has repeatedly stated her intentions to improve Government’s record on transparency and accountability and has introduced Good Governance legislation.

However Ms Cox has been repeatedly accused of failing to use the sanctioning powers available to her as Finance Minister when wrongdoing by leading civil servants has been exposed.

“In any other country, one would expect heads to roll as a result of the findings of this report. Not here,” said Sen Fahy.

“Here we get accusations of bias of independent officials and grand conspiracies of opposition and media collusion.”

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