In shutting down debate on Coco Reef, the Premier is telling the people of Bermuda they do not need to know the reasons behind Government decisions.

He's telling the people they should just get on with their own business and not to bother themselves with questions or concerns about how the Government manages public assets.

He's telling them it's not necessary for them to know why public land is being freely given to a private concern for private gain.

He's telling the public that they don't need to know anything about a deal that appears to be very shady.

You don't have to care about the handling of this matter, but you should. Because it is on issues such as Coco Reef that the principles underlying our system of government – principles such as transparency, accountability and fairness – are either upheld or weakened.

Take the standard of fair play.

Imagine yourself bidding for the lease to operate the former Stonington Beach Hotel. You submit a bid according to the terms and conditions in the tender. You lose the bid only to learn later that the winning party has been given huge breaks that were not part of the tender, including:

• Five rent-free years;

• A lease period more than double what you were instructed to bid for, from 21 to 50 years;

• The addition of nearly 4 acres of oceanfront land and woodland reserve, and later permission through a Special Development Order to build condos on the land.

Each of these terms, and others, massively improved the potential profitability of the property. Any of them, if they had been put to you and others, would have made it possible to submit a lower-priced bid for the lease and increased your chance to win it. But all of the new terms came to light after your bid was rejected.

If this had happened to you, you would have every right to think something fishy was going on. You would have reason to believe someone had an inside track. Your suspicions would have deepened when reading a Royal Gazette report from July 2004 that the man who won the lease had picked up the tab for the PLP's chief political consultant in the 1998 election.

With this information, you would have every right to ask questions and expect answers from your Government.

But on Friday, the Government stopped the House of Assembly from debating the matter after Opposition MPs questioned the deal.

That the Government snuffed out debate says it does not respect your right to know.

It says the Government regards public assets – in this case the former Stonington Beach Hotel – as theirs to use and deal away with no explanation.

People need to stand up and say this is not right; that the Government cannot conduct the people's business in this manner. We need a Government that is transparent and open, not shut down and defensive.

Without challenging Coco Reef, as we tried to do in the House of Assembly last week, we are in effect giving this Government carte blanche – unchecked power. We are in effect saying: It's OK to ignore the public, it's OK not to answer questions, it's OK to conduct public business in a private manner, with no accountability, no scrutiny.

If they get away without explanation on this matter, there's no saying what's next. It doesn't need to be like this. But to stop it, people need to say so.

Don't forget: This is your Bermuda too.