How the OBA's claims about cars collide with the facts

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 3: ‘Measure twice, cut once’. A lesson I learned whilst working at a drapery shop at the age of 14.

A caller on the Everest Da Costa Show March 2012: ‘Mr. Cannonier how will you cut government expense?’

Mr Cannonier: “We have too many GP cars that we have to fuel and maintain on a weekly basis.”

Mr Cannonier, in the Bermuda Sun: “It has been reported that we have gone from 91 GP cars in 2006 to 247 in 2010. That is a massive increase — more than 100% — and it makes no sense to me and my colleagues. It’s not just the cost of each vehicle and the maintenance, it’s the lack of control and indulgence they represent.”

Often I wonder if in their haste to paint the PLP Government as inept and indulgent, the OBA ever stops to check facts? Or do they believe they can just throw out any willy-nilly numbers and the Bermudian voters will just accept them as the gospel?

Had they really looked for the truth would know the following facts:

The Government has not purchased 150 odd new vehicles since 2006. All Government vehicles have been reclassified under one umbrella. Hence an upward movement of numbers from one column to another.

Here is the breakdown of the number of vehicles:

• Police ,Fire ,Corrections — 111

• District nurses, Dept. of Education, Child and Family Services — 48

• Planning & Public Works — 31

• TCD, Airport & Customs — 16

• Premier and Ministers — 14

• Other — 14            

• Government House and UK Foreign Office — 3

Two Questions now come to mind: If Bob Richards and Craig Cannonier are such astute businessmen, why couldn’t they have taken the same 20 minutes that anyone could have taken to research the facts?

Or did they research the facts and decide to push out the lie?

According to Mr. Cannonier these vehicles represent “a lack of control and indulgence”. So let me ask you this. Should the district nurse now push pedal on a BMX bike to visit her patients?

Should the police officer flag down drivers and ask for a lift when there is an accident? Should the firemen call for a “6 seater” taxi to put their hoses and hatchets in them to save Mrs Jones’s house from burning down?

Should we tell Governor Fergusson put down his BMW and get a Scoopy?

The picture they were hoping to paint is that ministers, permanent secretaries and civil servants just drive up and down in GP cars, going to MarketPlace and playing golf. “Silly rabbits trix are for kids.”

The OBA does not want you to know the facts so they attempt to feed you fiction. I will be here every week to ‘Measure twice and cut once’.

Stand strong, family.

• Christopher Famous is a graduate of The Berkeley Institute and Bermuda College. He is a self-described “blue collar worker, keen social observer and proud PLP supporter”. E-mail him: [email protected]