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Dear Sir,

The recent news surrounding the topic of fund raising for political parties has caused some unfortunate headlines from heated debates in our Parliament.

One cannot fault Opposition member Dr. Grant Gibbons for raising questions about the way the Government has approached funding for the PLP, and one can partly sympathize with Dr. Ewart Brown's rebuke of the Opposition for bringing his wife into the debate. A dutiful husband must certainly defend his wife's honour - that goes without question. The method of his rebuke and the words chosen during the debate in Parliament is another story.

Unfortunately this problem will forever remain in Bermuda unless we have a major overhaul of the system used for funding political parties.

Having been active in raising funds for the United Bermuda Party I can say first hand that the job is a difficult one. Voters in the community are becoming quite tired of having to dig into their pockets to support the finances of their chosen party when the cost of living continues to grind away at their disposable income. Businesses too find it difficult to support political parties with most now opting to support both parties for equal amounts, and rightly so.

Perception

And one cannot help but think that a 'donation' from any company, whether local or international, would carry a 'wink & a nod' understanding that their next round of work permits will come through the immigration process without a hitch. The perception - whether real or imagined - of 'I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine' must stop.

I think it's time for all political party funding to cease. As a solution, both parties will receive $1 million each per year from the Bermuda taxpayer via the Consolidated Fund. In order to ensure some level of protection for the taxpayer, a political party will only qualify for such a stipend if it has the support of at least 20 per cent of the voting public at elections.

A political party should be able to operate on a yearly budget of $500,000 which would allow the party to staff and operate its headquarters and carry out some polling during the year. Over the five year election cycle the party would be able to reserve approximately $2.5 million which should be sufficient funds to run an election campaign. The parties will also have to present annual accounts to the Charities commission to ensure total transparency. No other party fundraising will be permitted.

If Bermuda adopted the above solution (or something similar that ensured the same result) we would never have to worry about possible 'conflicts' or 'pay to play' scenarios affecting the Government and Opposition of the day. And that is something about which we could be so very proud.

Allan D. Marshall JP

Smiths Parish[[In-content Ad]]

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