What to celebrate, Premier?

July 14, 2010

Dear Sir,

I wonder what notable features of the Premier's tenure will be "celebrated" by the "Farewell Gala" in September to mark his departure from government in October?

Will it be his first remarkable act of getting to be leader of the PLP and Premier on the justification that "We had to deceive you"?

Or his subsequent run of distinguished achievements, including: superintendence of gross overspending and mismanagement of the public purse; breathtaking disregard for (or was it ignorance of?) the Bermuda Constitution in the "Uighur 4" affair (for which the then British Foreign Secretary David Milliband admonished in the House of Commons: "The Government of Bermuda acted outside their competence."); a "strategy" (if you could call it that) as Tourism Minister to revitalise Bermuda tourism with absurd (and expensive) trips to India and China, coupled with the persistent decline of the local tourist industry; the absence of any results whatsoever in his avowals to attract new world-class resorts to Bermuda; the continuing debacle of the Southlands for Morgan's Point land swap; the revolving door of Education Ministers and notable lack of any material improvement in the public education sector (at least so far as can be measured or has been revealed), despite his insistence at the beginning of his term that education was his Government's first priority; the cynical (and transparently unsuccessful) ploy of manipulating the so-called "race card" to deflect attention from primary issues that he was incompetent or otherwise unable to resolve; the putative underlying principle of "divide and rule" by that strategem; his irresponsible inattention to the resolution of escalating serious crime in Bermuda; his vacuous blowing of hot air about virtually any important matters to do with the welfare of the people of Bermuda, backed up by backing away from actually doing anything of lasting substance; his abject and insouciant disdain for answering, or even responding to uncomfortable questions of public interest put to him by this newspaper on behalf of its readers; his truly pathetic dance upon the grave of The Mid-Ocean News and self-professed ambition for the same fate of this newspaper ("One down, one to go."), because he could not – cannot – tolerate media criticism of him and his government; or the unpalatable whiff of cronyism emanating from a panjandrum Teflon Premier for whom the motto "This too will pass" (cf., Uighurs "firestorm") will be his most appropriately eloquent epithet as he passes to become a minor footnote in the annals of Bermuda's history.

Or perhaps, and this most likely, the "Gala" will simply be a self-satisfying and gargantuanly delusional congratulatory last hurrah to celebrate what the Premier has always seemed to prize most, above all and to the secondary consideration of all else in public office, namely, his overwhelming, posturing and preposterously overweening ego.

GRAHAM FAIELLA

London, UK