An unfair system protecting a privileged minority can at last now come to an end, Minister without Portfolio Zane DeSilva said as he kicked off debate on the Municipalities Reform Act.

The Minister in charge of Corporation reform launched a stinging attack on City Hall's media campaign against the controversial bill, before demanding unanimous backing from party colleagues and the Opposition.

"When the history of this country is written, the people of Bermuda should reflect on our actions today with pride as we remove the last vestige of a system designed to preserve an unnatural imbalance in favour of the few," he told the House of Assembly on Friday. "This Government is the party of universal adult suffrage and one man, one vote, each vote of equal value."

And reminding any indecisive backbenchers about the Progressive Labour Party's heritage, he continued: "This Government is the home of Dame Lois Browne-Evans, Dr. Barbara Ball, Freddy Wade and Roosevelt Brown and any vote or action that preserves this unjust system is an insult to their legacy."

Mr. DeSilva was damning of the existing Corporation electoral system based on property ownership, which was abolished by the bill in favour of giving all Hamilton and St. George residents the vote.

"The history of the franchise in Bermuda is familiar to Honourable Members," he said.

"It includes such unenviable eras of slavery, age restrictions, dual seat constituencies and eligibility to vote based on property ownership.

"Our national democracy has emerged from these discredited methods of electoral politics to the point where we now enjoy single-seat constituencies and one man, one vote, each vote of equal value.

"The same cannot be said for several acres of this country we know as Hamilton and St. George's."

Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling has repeatedly claimed the bill will lead to "death by financial strangulation" for his municipality, which will lose $7.5 million a year in wharfage and port dues while picking up costly land tax bills.

But Mr. DeSilva dismissed the Corporation's media and advertising campaign as "manufactured hysteria" which is "reminiscent of Delaey Robinson's face in the bull's eye in 1998".

"We are confronted by polls that indicate that 82 percent of Bermudians are against what the Mayor told them we would do," he said.

"That is the Mayor's responsibility and I hope that in the week since the bill was tabled he has told them that his crystal ball is also out of order.

"This bill is the takeover that takes over nothing. This bill is the land grab that does not affect any land. This bill apparently hurts residents by giving them the vote.

"The people of Bermuda have been misled by the hype and hysteria and the responsibility of honourable members is to focus the discussion in this House on reality and not the fiction of the Corporation's PR efforts.

"Distinguished, professional men and women, engaged to advise on this Government's plan, were subjected to personal and false attacks on their integrity and ability.

"This was wrong and is the first of the apologies the Corporation of Hamilton should make."

He said consultants hired by Government had unanimously concluded there was a need for wholesale reform of the municipalities' electoral process.

"Many respondents were simply unaware of the intricate nature of the Corporations' holdings, ability to tax and levy fees and the manner in which their operations were enhanced legislatively," said the Minister.

Three key faults with the set-up were identified:

• the majority of Hamilton's residents were disenfranchised;

• basic principles of accountability and transparency were left to an undemocratically elected group;

• a "fragmented system of service delivery and policy integration" hampered the chances of a fully integrated economy in a small geographical area.

He said the undemocratically elected Corporation being able to collect wharfage and port dues amounted to "taxation without representation" and the non-payment of land tax by the Corporations was a "historical anomaly".

The Minister also pointed out local government was abolished in Barbados in 1967 and has been suspended in St. Lucia since 1979.

Mr. DeSilva and Premier Ewart Brown have been criticised for failing to hold adequate talks with the Corporations and the public ahead of the tabling of the bill last week.

On Friday, Mr. DeSilva said discussion could take place between now and next April to see how the city "can continue to receive the services it needs and run efficiently as a centre of commerce, employment and residency".

"I look forward to that discussion because it will open doors to better management and it is likely to accelerate the pace at which people north of Church Street have their concerns addressed," he said.

He concluded his ministerial brief by saying the bill, which passed, was a chance for Government to recapture the spirit of its historic election win of 1998; and give Opposition MPs the opportunity to show they were not "wedded to business for business's sake and that the people do matter to them".

More on the debate on Page 12