Dedicating a week to transparency and accountability, is "laughable" according to Senator David Burch.

This paper is inviting all of Bermuda to celebrate Sunshine week — a US idea aimed at opening up dialogue about government transparency and accountability.

Sunshine week is being marked as part of our A Right to Know: Giving People Power campaign, which calls for Government to fulfil a long-held promise to Bermuda and pass a public access to information (PATI) law this year.

But in the Senate yesterday Sen. Burch said he supported transparency, but not the paper's sunshine week or campaign.

He said: "I was forced to read fiction in the daily today. Mr. President, I think it is laughable and hypocritical in the extreme that the daily paper is going to have a sunshine week."

And attempting to clarify comments he made in the Senate on Friday, Sen. Burch said: "I didn't call PATI foolishness, I called the campaign foolish."

He added: "I don't need no legislation to make me truthful and I don't think this government needs legislation. I am offended by a campaign that is considered in our right to know."

Yesterday Premier Ewart Brown had said that Sen. Burch supported PATI and transparency.

The Premier said: "As the country knows, Minister Burch is a strong advocate of freedom, justice and equality so he is obviously committed to the passage of PATI legislation."

Questions started flying as to what was open and transparent on Friday in the Senate when Sen. Burch accused the opposition and this paper's campaign of A Right to Know, of wanting control of the process.

He said that with 40 years of the opposition he had never seen any openness or transparency and that the PLP had been more open by hosting more press conferences. "You want to be in with that? You need to be in Government for that. You had it for 400 years, it's not your turn right now," said Sen. Burch.

He had then dismissed calls for more transparency as "foolishness".

And last night, Sen. Burch continued by suggesting that this paper and the Mid Ocean should refrain from printing photographs or details about people who end up in Magistrates' Court.

As a result of appearing in the paper, according to Sen. Burch, they are put on the American stop list and denied entry into the US.

The combined Magistrates' Court and Hamilton Police Station building will stop the process of identifying offenders because they will no long have to be 'paraded' across the street, according to Sen. Burch.

UBP Senator Michael Dunkley, however, pointed out that it was not the newspaper that got someone onto the stop list.

He said; "I believe they are put on the stop list when they are convicted of something, not being featured in the paper.

"But I do think as politicians we should support public access of information because it brings transparency."