Government backbencher and former top Police officer Wayne Perinchief yesterday went against the grain and suggested delays at Bermuda International Airport were created by overworked Customs officers.

In Parliament yesterday, Mr. Perinchief said he believed that it had been wrong of his Government to combine the departments of Immigration and Customs in January this year to make one big Customs unit.

He said in effect, Customs officers now had three roles, instead of just the previous two.

Mr. Perinchief said they had to undertake immigration duties as passengers arrived on the Island, as well as take care of Customs revenue and the screening for drugs.

He said: "The situation with Customs and Immigration amalgamating where the clearance of passengers is now solely with Customs officers, which have three functions, perhaps is a reason why the primary screening of passengers has slowed up.

"I have found out that this situation did exist before under the United Bermuda Party.

"Perhaps this Government should do a re-think of the primary screening.

"Customs and Immigration being merged may not be the best way forward for the future, if that can be taken on board by the Minister.

"Personally, I believe we can overcome this by putting in a primary screening process where people are very rapidly categorised into tourists with nothing to declare, businessmen coming in with nothing to declare, and then suspicious persons can then go to what could be considered a second screening.

"We do have the ability and expertise within this party to solve this problem."

And Mr. Perinchief said perhaps the issue needed some critical analysis.

Mr. Perinchief, who was outspoken on a number of issues yesterday in the House, said it was a privilege of the backbench to have different views and to go against the grain occasionally.

But leader of the Opposition United Bermuda Party Dr. Grant Gibbons congratulated Mr. Perinchief on speaking out, and questioned why head of Customs Finance Minister Eugene Cox had so far never commented on the frequent delays in processing people at the airport.

Customs Collector Winnifred Fostine-DeSilva has repeatedly said the delays were down to Customs officers learning the ropes of Immigration Officers.

However, even Transport Minister Dr. Ewart Brown has openly stated how he wished the problem would be resolved, because the checking of passenger and immigration details "was not rocket science."

Dr. Gibbons said yesterday: "Some how, this Government over there, did not think this through.

"What he (Perinchief) says is that this may not be the way forward, and I appreciate his honesty.

"At least he has given it some thought and has responded, which is more than the Minister of Finance, Mr. Eugene Cox, has done.

"I appreciate the member saying very clearly that this may not be the way forward and the Ministry of Finance may have put this new passenger clearance in place without doing a critical analysis of it.

"It's now reached a stage where it's not only Bermudians and residents here, but our visitors are being inconvenienced on a regular basis."

Shadow Tourism Minister David Dodwell brought up the issue of the airport delays first yesterday and said even a member of a tour operators' convention who visited earlier this month commented on how it had taken him too long to get through the airport.

And the hotel owner, who said it taken him almost as long to get through the airport as it did to travel from Toronto, said he would think twice about sending tourists to the Island, and instead send them somewhere else.

But Mr. Dodwell said that visitor had not been the only one to complain.

Mr. Dodwell said: "Something is wrong. The Minister of Transport said it was not rocket science.

"And then, on top of all of this, where is the Tourism Minister? I have been looking at his empty seat (in Parliament) for three weeks in a row.

"He's at a convention in the Caribbean for hotel managers. Why would a Government Minister be at a convention for hotel managers? It's another excuse to travel."

And he said tour operators visiting the Island had not been able to get hold of the Minister, which he believed was a major cause for concern.

Mr. Dodwell added: "If I was a tour operator I would assume that I was going to meet the Tourism Minister. That's a sad reflection. There is nobody here to listen to the problems."

Deputy Speaker of the House Walter Lister took issue with Mr. Dodwell's comments about the negative effects on tourism of the delays at the airport.

Mr. Lister said Bermuda was not alone in encountering delays at the airport and that travellers to the Caribbean commonly faced long waits.

"This is not new and it does not only happen in Bermuda," Mr. Lister said.

But UBP MP John Barritt said Bermuda did not have the luxury of justifying such delays if the country wanted tourism to succeed.

"It's not good enough to say it happens in Miami, or it happens in Toronto, or it happens in New York," Mr. Barritt said. "We can't afford to have that type of attitude."

He added: "We have to make the experience of coming here a positive one, so they want to come back."