An in-depth review of the way Government boards are appointed and carry out their work is needed, according to a new report on the best way forward for Bermuda.

Charting Our Course: Sustaining Bermuda ? a draft strategy for the Island?s long-term future produced for the Government ? says the boards should each produce annual reports, have their members? names published and be subject to a ?thorough review?. The proposal has been approved by Cabinet but Community Affairs Minister Dale Butler told he thought that annual reports would be ?an absolute waste of time and money?.

?Some boards are more effective and in the news more than others,? he said. ?At the moment all of my boards are performing very well by quietly providing advice. It would be an absolute waste of time and money to have annual published reports. We produce lots of reports and table them in the House and little is said about them.

?Nobody is interested in the good news, just the things that have gone wrong or were abused. So it would generate a lot of paper with fancy graphics but not really be beneficial.?

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) ? recently the subject of much criticism after controversial decisions on complaints about language used by Premier Alex Scott and Housing Minister David Burch ? is one of the boards which comes under Mr. Butler?s Ministry.

Opposition MPs have claimed its members ? and members of other government boards ? are appointed on the basis of their political persuasions. Shadow Finance Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin claimed the HRC?s commissioners ?comprised the inner sanctum of PLP political henchmen?.

The HRC has also come under pressure for repeatedly failing to produce annual reports, as it is required to do by law.

Under the theme Transforming Governance and the Public Sector, Charting Our Course suggests that some Government boards may be redundant.

It says: ?The roles of the boards in policy-making and advice, as well as how members are appointed, would benefit from a thorough review.

?The numerous Government boards which currently exist have developed ad-hoc over time and in some cases their roles and procedures may be outdated.?

The report admits there may be ?potential resistance from members to change the current way the boards? business is conducted?.

Opposition MP Jamahl Simmons said he hoped any review of the boards would recommend a more ?inclusive approach? to appointing members.

?Under the UBP Government the PLP members refused to participate on the boards,? he claimed. ?Under the PLP Government, very few of us have been asked.

?We have to come to a point to get what?s best for the country. I think the people want to see a more co-operative process. They don?t want board appointments to be a simple matter of employing political cronies, which in some instances has been raised as a potential concern.

?It would be good if there was a sense that there was a presence from outside Government.?

The Government?s second forum on the draft document Charting Our Course: Sustaining Bermuda will take place at the BIU Headquarters in Union Street, Hamilton, between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m.