April 6, 2013

Dear Sir,

Two recent references in the paper to the mismanagement of our economy under the previous government have emphasised the gap in credibility that continues to exist between what the PLP supporters believe versus reality.

The first was David Burt’s comment on the prospect of a Moody’s credit downgrade: “The lack of any concrete action to reduce the deficit, by reducing spending and increasing revenues are alarming.”

If this wasn’t written down in black and white (perhaps an unfortunate expression in today’s climate), it would be unbelievable. The PLP is criticising the current government for not reducing spending and not increasing revenues? Should we be reminding ourselves of exactly why the government spending bill is so inflated? A grossly over-staffed civil service, no accountability by anyone in government, runaway spending, buying, travelling, ferries that were never maintained and mismanaged capital projects.

Bob Richard’s article in Friday’s paper was the second signal to our electorate that what the government inherited was a fiscal nightmare that was worse than anyone feared. The article was a clear attempt to spell out, in easy-to-understand language, what needs to be done to set us on the right track.

How can any PLP supporter read that and not wince when they see the state of the Country after all those years of PLP government? They are all guilty of mismanagement, incompetence or just failing to speak up to stop it. Not a single person who ever supported what went on under our previous administration should be off the hook for dealing with what we have been left to clean up. It’s not a question of building on what’s left, the government has to take it all down, brick by brick, and put something sustainable in place instead.

We all need to work together to rescue and rebuild; however, how can we do this when comment’s like David Burt’s show that the blinkers are still firmly in place and there is no sense of accepting the reality of how close we really are to fiscal disaster?

After what has come out since the OBA government was elected, the PLP should be unelectable for many years to come, given their proven inability to govern, however so long as their supporters refuse to accept the reality of the situation and continue to give them any credibility at all, I fear that we will never be in a position to unite all Bermudians behind the attempt to pull us out of our self-inflicted economic decline.

ELSPETH BREWIN

Warwick