THE editors and reporting staff in newsrooms at papers and magazines throughout the world have by this time completed their year-end reviews, singling out what they believe are the most important news stories of the year.

I, too, have been thinking along these lines and here is my take on what I consider to have been the leading Bermudian news story of 2002.

I choose what I consider to be an important development in the governance of this country and one which will reverberate on its future direction, especially if the Progressive Labour Party is returned as the Government in the upcoming General Election.

I am speaking of what I believe is the politicisation of the office of the Auditor General and the unprecedented step taken by Auditor General Larry Dennis in going to the Governor over the Berkeley Institute completion bond issue, his growing estrangement from the PLP Government and the prospect of court cases stemming from this row.

While the full ramifications of the Auditor General's actions remain as yet unclear, as I mentioned in an earlier Commentary concerning this issue, I believe that the office of the Auditor General has been politically compromised. The blame for this perhaps lies with both the Government and the Opposition as well as Bermuda's political and racial history.

As I have stated before, politicising his office may not have been the intent of the Auditor General. But as events unfolded, I believe he was powerless to prevent anything other than this from happening.

As controversy swirled around the question of whether Bermuda Industrial Union president Derrick Burgess had called Mr. Dennis a racist while defending his union's role in providing the bond for the contractors of the Berkeley Institute building project, Mr. Dennis found himself swept along in a political controversy fanned by the United Bermuda Party - the sort of scenario that had never taken place when they formed the Government.

Was that because the UBP was maybe better in its handling of past Government building projects? Or is the truth of the matter that the UBP is perhaps more successful at political sabotage, conspiring to sour relations between the PLP Government and the Auditor General to a level unknown in modern Bermuda history?

Well with respect to the last statement, the people can be the judge. And they should consider the following.

The financial track records of some of the building projects undertaken on the UBP Government's watch included massive cost overruns and delays.

Remember the renovations that took place at Bermuda's Airport? What stands out in my mind is the fact that when the new additions to the Airport were completed; the departure lounge did not include public bathrooms.

Then there was the $2 million dollar bail out of the contractors who built Westgate prison.

Also let's not forget the embarrassing delays in repair work that occured when Jerome Dill was the the helm of the Education Ministry, delays that meant some of the island's public schools were not ready to open at the beginning of the new school term.

And all the while the UBP regularly turned a deaf ear to the Auditor General's constant pleas for Government to submit its public accounts reports in a more timely fashion.

All of this - and much more - occurred during the time the UBP was in power.

Of course, much was revealed about Government's wasteful habits by way of the Auditor General's reports that did not endear his office to the UBP. But these revelations did not lead to the type of estrangement that now exists between the Auditor General and the PLP Government. The question now is how did these new circumstances come into existence?

I DO accept that part of the reason for the current stand-off has to do with the perceived reluctance of the Government to be completely open with information; this perception of secretiveness is what has given Government's political detractors carteblanche to create as much political mischief as they can for the PLP administration.

It would have been far better if the PLP had always taken full and frank stands on its policies rather than reveal and defend them selectively, depending on whether or not the political climate makes it expedient to do so. But on the other hand the PLP took power in a potentially hostile environment; after all there had been up to the election of November 9, 1998 no change of Government in Bermuda's history. Bermuda had always been governed by a conservative regime and it was likely that the PLP had inherited a somewhat conservative civil service which would have included the office of the Auditor General.

The Americans in this case may have it right. All of their top government people, the non-elected that is, have to resign once a new President and his Cabinet take over. In the Bermuda system, though, the Auditor General is a Crown Officer, appointed technically by the Governor - so he enjoys recourse to the Governor, as we have recently seen, and can bypass the Government entirely.

For these reason the politicisation of the Auditor General's Office remains for me the top local news story in the year 2002, as I am sure it will remain so for this year, 2003.

Next week I will discuss the international news stories that, from my perspective, dominated the news agenda in 2002.