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OBA leader criticised for not declaring his interests

OBA Leader Craig Cannonier has been criticised for not filing a declaration of interests during his first 240 days as an MP.

The Progressive Labour Party this week questioned the One Bermuda Alliance’s commitment to transparency, noting that party leader Craig Cannonier had not publicly declared his interests.The OBA said the issue was being resolved, and called the PLP attack “a bit childish.”The issue arose on Wednesday in a debate in Senate surrounding Good Governance legislation.During the debate, Government Senator Jonathan Smith said: “If you really take seriously the effort to be totally transparent, you would think that the newest elected member, in fact the only elected member of the OBA, would have declared his interests.“Two-hundred and forty days after he was elected to the House of Assembly, Craig Cannonier has failed to ensure that his register of interest declaration is publicly available. All 35 of his colleagues have posted their registries online on parliament.bm, but not Craig Cannonier.”In a subsequent statement by the PLP, a party spokesman said: “Craig Cannonier may talk the good government talk, but, when it comes to submitting his required registry of interests to the public, he’s 240 days late.“Craig Cannonier is all talk and no action. He hasn’t articulated any plans or policies for Bermuda. And, now, we learn that he hasn’t even filed his registry of interests.“So much for his commitment to transparency! Bermudians are watching and we know that his actions speak much louder than his words.”Committee Chairman for the Register of Member’s Interest and OBA MP Trevor Moniz said yesterday that Mr Cannonier has now filled in and submitted the form.“We sat down today and filled it in and turned it in,” Mr Moniz said. “There’s nothing of particular interest there. He had nothing to declare except his interest in his business.“I think the PLP is being a bit childish. El James didn’t fill in a form for two or three years.”Mr Cannonier had not responded to a request to comment as of press time last night.As of yesterday afternoon, Mr Cannonier’s Register of Interest was not available online.Useful website: parliament.bm, www.plp.bm, www.oba.bm.