I don't understand David Burch. When he took over the running of the Bermuda Housing Corporation from Minister Nelson Bascome, he seemed genuinely angry at the notion that the public might have been taken for a ride by contractors who were billing for work they didn't do, and the BHC employees who might have turned a blind eye to it.

He threatened to "name and shame" the guilty, regardless of what might happen when the 18-month Police investigation of the scandal finally comes to an end, and has kept up a steady series of press conferences for months now, saying how outraged he is by it all.

Now, when tenants who live in BHC accommodation in Cedar Park and on Mary Victoria and Alexandra Roads complain that the work that should have been done by the Corporation on their buildings hasn't been done, he's outraged again, all right.

But this time, he's not angry at those who failed to do the work, or who failed to check that it had been done. No, he's angry at the tenants who dared to complain.

"It is unfortunate," he told The Royal Gazette last week, "that they have allowed themselves to be the pawns in the political process during what is clearly the silly season."

Then he added this extraordinary remark: "We will not be duped into disrespecting the genuine concerns of these residents for partisan political gain."

What on earth does that mean?

I think that, like some of his colleagues in the Smith Government, he has a funny notion of what role the Government is meant to play in the lives of the people of Bermuda.

I know the Progressive Labour Party had to fight for a long time before they finally won their first election in 1998. But that doesn't mean that they are Bermuda's conquerors, entitled to demand obedience from their now-humbled people.

No, as in all governments everywhere, Mr. Burch and his colleagues won the right to be the protectors of the people, and won the responsibility to do for them what they cannot do for themselves.

To my way of thinking, when the Government makes a promise, it must deliver. When a Government agency like the Housing Corporation signs an agreement with its tenants, it has a responsibility to honour the terms of that agreement. If it doesn't, my moral compass tells me it is failing in the same way as the contractor does when he submits a false bill.

In the case of these buildings, the Government, acted like a contractor. It promised to perform a range of maintenance services, and charged a fee.

So why should Mr. Burch be angry with those who are complaining that the Government failed to perform?

When I called the meeting of residents in May to talk about their problems, no election date had been set. I had simply become aware that the residents of the the area were unhappy, and I thought that if they talked about their problems, perhaps I might be able to lend a hand in some way.

It turned out that the residents have a lot of concerns. We put some of them on a petition which was circulated, and then presented to the BHC. Among those concerns were these:

The roads are in urgent need of paving.

The street lights are in urgent need of attention.

The community trash bins are in need of replacement.

Residents should not have to fight for parking spaces. Visitors should park in spaces allocated for their use.

The playing of loud music should cease at a certain time, and residents should be made aware of their responsibility to abide by the limit.

Tenants should be discouraged from owning large dogs, although small house dogs should be allowed for companionship and protection.

Tenants would like an accounting of how their maintenance fees for the last two years have been used.

These are perfectly reasonable comments for the residents to make, and I doubt they made them because they wanted to be pawns in some political game. They made them because they want their neighbourhood to be a good place in which to live.

The Government is their landlord. If standards are to be kept up, the Government must help the residents. That, as far as I know, is what government is all about.

@EDITRULE:

Hillary Soares is a United Bermuda Party candidate for the House of Assembly in Devonshire North Central in the July 24 General Election.