A political strategy

September 1, 2010

Dear Sir,

I am a Bermuda resident (of ten years) but not Bermudian. I follow the political debate in Bermuda with interest and I think that Bermuda is in a unique position to make a mark on the world political scene with a radical, streamlined new democracy.

It's clear that the current balance of power is unlikely to change unless the electorate is offered a dramatically improved alternative.

Cyril Parkinson pointed out in 1955 that bureaucracies expand even if there is a reduction in the workload. Parkinson said: "Officials make work for each other."

Bermuda is a perfect example of Parkinson's law in action.

Consider this.

Bermuda has 36 MPs for 34,000 voters – roughly one per 1,000 voters or one per 1,700 members of the population.

MPs salaries range from $35,000 to $55,000 per annum.

Bermuda has 13 cabinet members with salaries up to $200,000 per annum.

There are 11 Senators in the upper house who are paid a salary but I'm not sure how much.

The car pool available to these officials costs $350,000 a year to maintain (excluding gas).

There are 108 government advisory boards and 38 Quangos who must be paid something for their efforts.

Fourteen percent of the workforce is employed by the Government.

What are all these people doing?

It will be difficult for anybody involved in the current system to propose any radical departure from the status quo because they all have a vested interest in keeping things as they are.

But perhaps sufficient public pressure could force a change. There follows a suggested structure that would not only reduce the cost and improve Bermuda government, but it would put Bermuda on the world map as a benchmark of democratic governmental excellence.

Here is a summary of the main points of the idea to provoke a debate in these pages which will result in a workable system that could replace the existing inefficiencies.

Number of MPs: Ten, salary $150,000 /annum. All elected by all the electorate not constituencies. There are no political parties just individuals.

Premier elected by the MPs. Salary $100,000/annum in addition to MP salary.

These salaries should guarantee the best minds on the island.

The current salary total for the lower house is over $2 million. This proposal comes to $1.6 million, not to mention the savings in expenses and vehicles.

MPs should swear an oath to work for the best interests of all Bermudians.

MPs term: Say five years, unless they underperform, in this case a petition by a minimum number of the electorate say 3,000 (10 percent) will provoke referendum on whether the MP stays in office.

The upper house should consist of "wise elders" whose job it is to advise the MPs and make sure they stay honest to their oath of office. There only needs to be five Senators. They should also be elected by the people. (Salaries and term to be decided)

There should be a government audit office whose sole job is to provide independent statistics on government performance.

All advisory boards are disbanded; the MPs are paid so well they are able to make their own decisions. If there needs to be special advice on a subject it should be sought from the private sector.

The MPs debate a yearly strategy for the Government of the Island with a full budget; this is made public (online, newspaper TV printed copies available on request) by the end of September in the previous year. At the end of October there is a public referendum requesting a majority acceptance of the strategy.

Bermuda is in the perfect position to use referenda as a means to offer true democracy to it's people. With an educated electorate, who have great interest in government in a small geographic location.

The referendum system could be a world first. All done online with computer access at Post Offices for electors without internet access. The result would be known within minutes of the polls closing.

(All elections for MPs and Senators would use this system too.)

'No' voters would be asked to comment on why they voted no, if the yearly plan failed to get majority support the MPs would have to go back to the drawing board taking these comments into account.

If the plan received majority support the MPs would set about implementation.

The independent audit office would produce a report by the end of February each year, this report give details of how well the last year's plan was implemented an a list of agreed statistics, e.g. Unemployment, GDP, etc.

Of course this is just a summary of ideas most of which need refining, but this could be the beginning of the debate.

How to implement these changes? It's unlikely that any of the current elected officials would want to, but what if the referendum system where put in place by a non government body (this paper perhaps) and a referendum on a new system of government was held. If 75 percent of the electorate voted for change the current government would find it difficult to ignore.

PAGET PHILOSOPHER