A front-page headline in the Bermuda Sun last week incited racism, a Government backbencher claimed on Friday.(PLP)was referring to an article on the Bermuda Cement Company?s (BCC) contract row and he blamed the Editor of the Bermuda Sun for allowing the headline: ?If you?re white, you?re out.?

Mr. Perinchief added that the statement suggesting that Bermuda was like President (Robert) Mugabe?s Zimbabwe was not a true representation of Bermuda.

The entire row began when Government backbencher Derrick Burgess said in the House of Assembly last Friday that the contract would be awarded to ?one of our own? and that the BCC had held the lease for ?too long?.

The BCC, which been a Dockyard tenant for 40 years, has been asked to tender for a renewal of the lease, which expires next year.

Wedco invited companies to put in a formal proposal between April and June 15 with a September 2004 decision date.

Mr. Perinchief questioned the intentions of the paper and what BCC president Jim Butterfield hoped to gain by calling the BCC ?the Zimbabwe Cement Company?.

When comparing Zimbabwe to Bermuda, Mr. Perinchief said the former Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, was taken to independence by Ian Smith.

He said: ?The country is at a crossroads and I am looking forward to a Bermuda where the playing field is level.?

He added: ?Perhaps some people are frightened by the fact that coloured people are gaining economic empowerment and wealth.?

Shadow Works Minister said the United Bermuda Party did not condone Mr. Butterfield remarks comparing Bermuda to Zimbabwe.

But she said the cry to replace Mr. Butterfield with somebody else wasn?t going to result in a sharing of the wealth because whoever took over would need a substantial amount of capital.

?We?ll be replacing wealth with wealth, she said, adding the push to replace BCC looked almost like insider trading.

But Wedco chairman (PLP)denied the corporation was making deals behind closed doors.

He said both black and white people had tendered for the cement leases.

?You cannot say white people are not involved in the process,? he said. ?We don?t appreciate people saying things that are not true. Some said we had already decided. That is not true.?

Shadow Transport Minister called on Government to create a level playing on contracts. He said Government had a mandate to effect change but little had been done.

?What?s so hard about saying a certain percentage of contracts, if you want to do Government business you have to show a particular commitment to a level playing field.?

He said race had to be dealt with and South Africa had made great stride with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.

The time would come when both political parties would be represented by a majority of black which would make it difficult to play the race card in an election, he added.

?The Royal Gazette said in Saturday?s newspaper that Mr. Lister said he had put out a press statement five days after the BCC row broke explaining Wedco?s above the board stance but only one paper had picked it up and given it just one line.

In fact this paper gave it three lines.