The director of the Washington think-tank which accused Premier Alex Scott of jeopardising his political career by thrusting Independence upon a reluctant public has taken issue with aspects of a critical Bermuda Sun opinion column penned by environmentalist Stuart Hayward.

In a stinging commentary on Friday, Mr. Hayward argued the study undertaken by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs on the Bermuda Independence debate was flawed and unbalanced.

But while he conceded the piece had been written by an intern and he had not seen the final edition immediately prior to its release, Larry Birns insisted the vetting process for any article written at COHA is "vigorous" and he continues to believe the points raised were "perfectly valid".

He argued Mr. Hayward had made "very little effort to critically engage" with the core arguments of the piece while he also claimed to have been misquoted.

"Mr. Hayward was the first Bermudian I spoke to on the issue and our conversation was brief and rather skeletal," he said.

"I certainly did not say that Mr. Scott was 'a very responsible public official who was articulating the debate in a responsible manner' as Mr. Hayward quotes me as saying. There are sections of the piece which are a fair reflection of our brief chat. But what does not come out in the article, which is something I stressed repeatedly to him, is that history tells us that independence often promises a great deal, but more often than not yields depressingly disappointing results. That was my main point."

Mr. Birns, director of COHA since its inception in 1975, is a graduate of Colombia and Oxford Universities and a former member of the Institute of Strategic Studies in London and the United Nations Economic Commission on Latin America.

His opinions are widely sought in the national and international media, with his views being aired on such high-profile programmes as CNN's Larry King Live and ABC's Nightline.

Mr. Birns confirmed he will be writing an extended letter to the local media in the near future expanding on his views, while he revealed COHA will be taking the unprecedented step of setting up a "Bermuda research unit" to do justice to a political system he claims has suffered from a lack of thorough academic scrutiny.

"When COHA was founded in the mid-70s, we started as a left-of-centre organisation with real sympathy towards independence movements globally," he said.

"As time has gone on however, we have become increasingly disillusioned with the implications of such a step. In all honesty, the history of independence has not been an unqualified success and it is difficult to find an example of a newly-independent nation in Africa or the Caribbean which has not been subsequently plagued by chronic corruption, widespread social problems and frequent scandals. In the case of an affluent, economically successful country like Bermuda, very serious consideration has to be taken before a step as drastic as independence is taken."

Bermudians, Mr. Birns suggested, appear to be more interested in effective, transparent government rather than the "often vague and uncertain consequences" of independence.

"The opinion poles clearly demonstrate the arguments of pro-Independence advocates have been spectacularly unpersuasive," he said.

"What people are looking for ultimately ? and this has been the cause of some regret in other countries which have gone independent ? is unimpeachable governance, and not long-winded speeches about political destiny."

"What is going on in Bermuda at present reminds me of the situation in Grenada in the early 1980s under President Maurice Bishop," Mr. Birns continued.

"The man spent his time, in the eyes of the public, pontificating at great length to the country and the world on the immense benefits of independence, rather than fixing the many potholes in the country's highways and other such issues. He became too concerned with issues which were abstract and rather extraneous and less with the practical application of good governance. I would hope that Bermuda and its politicians would not fall into that trap."

More information about COHA can be found on the organisation's website at www.coha.org.