Opposition Leader Kim Swan has condemned Government for its 'reprehensible decision' to strip Roy Allen Burch of the Male Athlete of the Year Award.

In a strongly worded statement, Mr. Swan criticised Government for 'one of the worst decisions ever taken', and said it brought 'shame on Bermuda today'.

He accused the PLP leadership of having an 'anti-democratic and bare knuckle mindset', and said the decision sent out the message to the Island that theirs was a Government that 'does not believe in free speech'.

Burch was apparently punished for speaking out last April against Premier Ewart Brown's administration over a perceived lack of support for Bermuda's Olympic athletes.

The Olympic swimmer had been the nominating committee's choice, but that decision was over-turned by Cabinet at a meeting last week.

In the end World Racquets champion James Stout received the award at the Annual Sports Awards ceremony on Saturday night.

Over the weekend the Government denied that the matter had ever been discussed in Cabinet, as reported in The Royal Gazette on Saturday, suggesting it had been a purely Department of Sport decision.

However, yesterday Energy Minister Terry Lister, who is Burch's uncle, said Cabinet had been involved. "This was a collective Cabinet decision," he said.

"The PLP Government's decision to deny Mr. Roy Allen Burch Male Athlete of the Year because he criticised its lack of funding support for swimming stands as one of the worst decisions ever taken by a Bermuda Government," said Mr Swan in a statement.

"It is a decision that says this Government does not believe in free speech. That Government Ministers are deliberately denying a young man who has devoted his life to competing for and representing his country sends the worst message to the community: Toe the party line or we will come after you regardless of what you have accomplished.

"It is the same mindset that stripped Muhammad Ali of his boxing title for his stand against the Vietnam War in the 1960s – an action that brought shame on the United States as this decision brings shame on Bermuda today.

"Nothing reveals this Government's anti-democratic, bare knuckle mindset more clearly than this one reprehensible decision.

"That it was discussed and agreed to by the Cabinet – as reported by the media – underscores our concern that there is no one in this government who understands how fundamentally wrong this decision is; no voice strong enough to make the arguments that would be self-evident in any healthy democracy.

"All Bermudians should register their disgust with the low, mean-spirited thinking behind this decision. All Bermudians who care about free speech should be outraged and deeply concerned.

"This decision must be reversed if we are to stand as a society that is fair, just and free. Allowing it to stand narrows freedom of expression in Bermuda."

Calls and e-mails to Premier Brown's press secretary Glenn Jones went unanswered last night.

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