January 30, 2013 at 5:54 p.m.

Persistent allegations of corruption add up to little more than wishful thinking


By Rolfe Commissiong<br>Guest columnist- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

"You probably have a sizeable proportion of people in Bermuda who think I'm a crook, and also that I have cedar beams in my house. Neither of which are true."

- Premier Dr. Ewart Brown, Rotary Club

Race - and specifically, the notion that the PLP and the large black majority who support it are racist and that whites are the new victims of racism in Bermuda - is one of the tools used by government's opponents to discredit the PLP and its leaders.

There is another companion narrative which is no less destructive to the body politic and our democracy: this narrative alleges that the government is corrupt.

All of us are now familiar with the bizarre tale of the forged cheques apparently made out to the Premier and Minister Burgess, which mysteriously found their way into the file cabinet at the minister's office.

These cheques, which were alleged to have been under the table payments made to the Cabinet Ministers by Landmark Lisgar - I assume in return for ensuring that they received the contract for the new police and court building going up on Church and Court Street.

We now know that the alleged, so-called payments did not occur and that the recently discovered cheques were verifiable phonies.

All of us have heard this song so many times before, yet for some in the community, who indulge incessantly in wish fulfilment on this issue, enough is never enough. Despite the fact, that not one of the allegations over the last seven years has been proven, the ardour of the Government's opponents to nail this government to the wall on this issue, never seems to wane.

Certainly, the Opposition Leader Kim Swan's appetite for it has not diminished, especially since most of his support base in neighbourhoods such as Point Shares, Harbour Road and beyond, are convinced that if they are not getting a piece of the economic action, as in the good old days, when their was real political corruption in Bermuda, then something has gone terribly amiss. Perhaps they are of the view that this government is running things just as they did. On that score, they would be wrong.

At this point, after hearing about 'cedar beams' and now the doctored cheques made out to two cabinet ministers, most Bermudians must surely be developing a condition which I call, 'corruption allegation fatigue'.

Wilting flower

Mr. Swan, who apparently never came across a corruption allegation he didn't like, tried to make the most of the latest wilting flower in a recent interview, by spending time reinforcing the false notion, largely through innuendo, that the government has acted corruptly in this matter. And he managed to do so, without even devoting one sentence to denouncing those who would sink to such lows by falsifying cheques and placing them in ministry files: a minor matter in his eyes, I guess.

The Premier, for his part, remains resolute and determined not to allow these matters to sidetrack him or his government. If these constant attacks are getting him down, he's not showing it. One thing we have learned about him, is that what does not kill him, apparently only makes him stronger. A more resilient politician I have yet to meet.

Occasionally however, a critic will offer up an opinion that puts a smile on one's face. As when Stuart Hayward, a frequent critic of the Government, writing in this newspaper last week, asserted that the latest example of PLP government corruption, was the road work by Works & Engineering, which occurred in Southampton West Central, just prior to the recent bye election.

Then-candidate Mark Bean, acting on behalf of constituents, solicited Minister Derrick Burgess to mobilize resources to get the road work in question accomplished, something that politicians from Kampala to Seattle do every day. After all, are not politicians there to respond to constituents' needs?

However, this was characterized by Mr. Hayward as a gross example of corruption at work. So much so that he made reference to the above twice in what amounted to a six hundred word column. Mr. Hayward obviously intends to set the bar so low, with respect to corruption, that even a two-year-old child could jump it. The rest of us are not that naïve.

Perversely however, in what may be a good sign, Mr. Hayward and company are so determined to finally pin something or anything on the government, that he was convinced that this was it, and that he had finally found the elusive 'Holy Grail'.

Remember, he who the gods would punish; they first drive 'mad'. But Mr. Hayward is not alone; this apparent madness extends all the way to Parliament itself, on the Opposition benches and at all points in between.

It's all getting a little absurd, if you ask me. Happily, most sober thinking Bermudians feel exactly the same way.

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