Opposition acting leader John Barritt said his party is alarmed by the Premier?s suggestion that Progressive Labour Party rivalries and disunity have prevented it from governing properly.

At a constituency meeting on Monday Premier Alex Scott, who is facing a challenge from Ewart Brown, had said: ?If you hear others within or without our party saying they have other thoughts or initiatives, remember it took three years for us to bring the country to the point where we are able to now provide a cohesive programme, one supported by private and public sectors, one that?s seen our country go from strength to strength.?

Responding Mr. Barritt, of the United Bermuda Party, said: ?By the Premier?s own admission the Government has spent three years trying to organise itself as a team.

?Not until now, the Premier said, has he been able take the government to the point where it is ?able to? provide a cohesive programme..??

Mr. Barritt claimed it gave some insight into why there has been a lack of focus, commitment and follow-through in so many areas. He listed the Government?s failure to deliver housing, to its tolerance of chronic problems in public education, to unchecked crime, to the faulty and bizarrely handled decision to build a hospital in a national park.

?This is a record of failure and it appears that the cause is party-wide,? said Mr. Barritt.

?The Premier?s words are further proof that the PLP has been more concerned with its own problems than the people?s problems.?

Meanwhile former UBP Minister Ann Cartwright DeCouto criticised the system by which the PLP was selecting its leader.

She said: ?How can 100-odd delegates from the PLP, when we don?t know who they are or how they are selected, elect our next Premier? This is fundamentally wrong.

?After the election, the Governor will have to canvass the MPs to determine if he has the support of a majority of MPs in the House of Assembly.?

?The public does not know who the delegates are, how they are selected or who they represent. Arthur Hodgson says he has not been contacted for a branch meeting for a number of years.

?The PLP should be asked to put a list of names in the paper, saying these are the people who are going to select the next Premier.?

Asked if having the leader elected by MPs was any more democratic, she said: ?At least everyone knows who the MPs are and either voted for them or against them.

?Everyone knows who is casting the vote and they can make their views known. But who are these faceless people??

She noted that the PLP had not yet said how many delegates there would be, just days before Friday?s election.