Premier Jennifer Smith finally responded on Friday to confusion over Government's tendering and contract policies.

But her statement in the House of Assembly did little to clarify the situation and may well have confused it even more.

The confusion began two Fridays ago when Tourism and Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb claimed critics of the Berkeley project were being racist in raising questions over the performance of the contractor and the performance bond that was supposed to be in place at the beginning of the contract.

At any rate, Ms Webb said Government, as a matter of policy, should give contracts to black-owned businesses in order to expand the ownership of the economy, given that whites have a disproportionately large share of ownership of the "means of production".

And she said in her Ministry it was standard procedure to ensure that this happened. Later she said this applied not only to black Bermudians, but to women as well.

Works Minister Alex Scott disagreed, and said that the Works Ministry granted contracts, including that granted to Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd. for the Berkeley site, purely on the basis of merit.

With two Ministers apparently at odds, it was up to the Premier to clarify just what the Government policy is, and she attempted to do so on Friday.

She said: "Our policy has been to broaden opportunities and participation and to ensure that those who had previously been excluded are included and within that context, contracts are awarded on capability and viable economies.

"In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, this Government ... is about removing all impediments to participation in mainstream economic activity in the public sector by all who are able, qualified and willing".

On the face of it, that is inarguable and would be a good set of guiding principles for any government.

Then she said that this was what Ms Webb, in "her own dramatic and flamboyant fashion" was saying as well.

But it was nowhere near what Ms Webb was saying, as Ms Webb herself had admitted earlier last week.

Ms Webb said that because blacks, and women, had control of a disproportionately small share of the economy, they should be given preference when Government contracts were issued. And she went on to say that it did not matter if a Government contract was late or overbudget if it achieved the goal of broadening ownership.

Some people will agree with these ideas and others will not. But no one, except apparently the Premier, can say with a straight face that she and Ms Webb were saying the same thing. The Premier talked about removing all impediments to participation and then awarding contracts "on capabilities and viable economies", in effect creating a level playing field for applicants. Ms Webb talked about affirmative action by giving preference to applicants based on the racial and sexual ownership of the companies.

These distinctions are not questions of flamboyance or drama; they are different policies and the Premier still needs to say what the Government's policy is and whether all of her Ministers are going to follow it.