Political accountability is lacking

Last Friday’s Royal Gazette ran with a most intriguing story about Ex PLP MP Terry Lister potentially starting a third party. But it wasn’t the idea of a third party that captured my attention. Instead, it was this peculiar statement, from ‘an insider’, about Jetgate: “The public don’t care who the fourth person on the plane was — all this time has been wasted. I think people are willing to look at another direction.”  

So If the public doesn’t really care who the fourth person on the plane was, why should jetgate have, “added to a groundswell of support for a third party”?

 The answer of course is ‘politics’.  Let’s return to the Opposition Leader’s implausible claim on February 14: “In rejecting our offer of a coalition government, the Premier revealed that there is a developer who is willing to pay him and his two Cabinet colleagues (that is, the Learned Minister of Tourism and the Learned Attorney General) up front for a casino licence. And from that point he will be free from (and I quote in his words) “these rich white UBP boys”.

If we connect these dots with Jetgate, surely a fourth person travelling on the private jet proves Bean’s corruption claim? … Well, not really.  

I find it impossible to believe that this is the first time that someone outside of Government has benefited from a taxpayer-financed trip. At the very least I expect that taxpayers have paid for hotel rooms and ground transport that a significant other has benefited from.  Regardless, if that fourth person was present during an official meeting, a line may certainly have been crossed. The Premier must therefore provide an explanation to the public.

I am torn about the Premier refusing to answer further questions until after the defamation lawsuit has concluded. On the one hand, I would really like an explanation now and not later. If no wrongdoing took place, the matter should be very easy to clear up. On the other hand, I totally get that the more questions Cannonier entertains now, the more he feeds the PLP opportunities to make something innocuous look corrupt and thereby stall Bermuda’s progress.  

I’m also mindful that when compared to the PLP’s track record on scandals and accountability, calls for Cannonier’s resignation appear utterly ridiculous. Questions about PLP misconduct remain from a 14-year-long list of scandals stretching from the Bermuda Housing Corporation to the White’s Island ‘21 year less one day’ lease.  In the 2011 Misuse of Public Funds Report, Bermuda’s Auditor General declared that consultancy fees paid to a PLP-appointed board member should be paid back to the BLDC. Even the Premier appeared to agree, but despite funds not being returned, the PLP still ran that member as a candidate!  

Are we supposed to ignore these grotesque double standards? Apparently, yes! The PLP’s post-election political strategy has been pretty clear: First, try to motivate those who boycotted the last election to come out and vote against the demonic Harry Potter One Bermuda Alliance; Second, try to convince black swing voters that Cannonier is nothing more than a black surrogate doing the bidding of the white UBP;  Third, pressure the OBA to make the disastrous error of replacing Cannonier with an ex-UBP MP (especially a white one).  

Especially considering this political strategy, the public should keep in mind that Cannonier still has to face the proverbial music once the case is completed.  We should also consider that he didn’t outright dismiss the PLP for asking plantation questions. So to put it bluntly, I see no point in dwelling on jetgate until the defamation case is concluded. In the same vein, I don’t believe that the “controversy” justifies the launch of a third party. 

Here’s the crux of the matter. A third party changes nothing if voters and politicians are willing to provide unconditional support to their party.  Many who are screaming bloody-murder over jetgate kept their lips sealed during the PLP’s 14-year administration, and they still defend even the most reprehensible conduct.  Similarly, far too many who picked at every single PLP misstep have now gone completely mute with the OBA.   

Nothing will change if individuals fail to hold their organization accountable for misconduct. Instead of trying to ride the Jetgate wave, Terry Lister should demonstrate how he is philosophically different from the OBA/PLP, because his resignation was primarily over a failed leadership bid, and not the PLP’s numerous scandals or flawed political philosophy. 

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