OBA: Our island and community is decaying around us
The island’s economic success, political stability and social values are “being degraded every year”, the One Bermuda Alliance said yesterday.
Delivering his first Reply to the Throne Speech, interim OBA leader Jarion Richardson was scathing in his criticism of the Government.
He said the island was at a crossroads with a government not up to the task of finding the right path forward to deal with challenges such as climate change, artificial intelligence and global conflicts.
“We will need a government that can provide a compelling vision of the future, to stop current and next generations from fleeing the island,” he said.
“We will need a government that can manage the complexities of foreign direct investments, global corporate tax and the myriad of international threats, while saving money in the good years to provide for the bad.
“We will need a government that cannot only pay down our debt, but is preparing for the future, for example, with infrastructure funds to protect us from the impact of climate change.”
Bermuda needs to get back to the basics of good governance, Jarion Richardson said in the Throne Speech reply.
He asked how many Government reports were tabled in the House with caveats that accurate, up-to-date data is not available.
“Updating government guides will enable the public to navigate government services and other aspects of society.”
He cited elderly care as an example, adding: “It is a continuing challenge and in an ageing population, sandwiching working adults between childcare and senior care, the Government must document and publish guidance and support.”
He said government “should be listening to the experts, balancing budgets, reallocating funds for unused positions, making early retirement easy and prioritising collecting taxes”.
Mr Richardson said it was time to stop “stocking the boards of every quango with politicians and their political peers” and hold them more accountable.
He talked about slashing red tape, adding: “We don’t have to handcuff the community to rules and regulations that serve no purpose other than ‘this is the way it’s always been done’.”
He said political institutions needed modernising “and ensure that good governance laws hold us, as politicians, accountable”.
“Those of us who shirk our responsibilities, behave unethically, or abuse our positions, will have to go.”
He added: “We need to create safe, healthy, sustainable communities. This starts with regular uniformed police, fire and ambulance services.
“It’s not enough to add more people to those roles. We need to make their jobs easier as well.
“It does no good having police officers spending hours filling out paperwork for outdated criminal offences for which there are little to no punishments.
“The same goes for everyone from our firefighters to our teachers, from boat captains to our traffic wardens. Less paperwork means more doing.”
He said punishments for road traffic offences had to “hurt” to deter conduct “that is getting our people killed on our roads”.
On increasing the population, Mr Richardson said: “With clear eyes, a rational approach, public accountability, and a respect for all, we can manage a population increase that is to the benefit of Bermudians.”
A shortage of housing has been identified as a critical area and Mr Richardson said: “We have to change where and how people live in Bermuda. We have to change how we interact with housing owners. We have to change what role the Government plays.”
He said by expanding programmes for first-time homeowners, “we can ensure Bermudians get on the property ladder and don’t get caught up in this problem”.
An independent education authority should mean just that, he said, with “no friends and family on the board, no favoured contractors and no politicians giving thinly veiled threats under the premise of legitimate direction”.
He added: “And let’s let the school supervisors, principals and others get on with managing their schools.
“When did the judgment of an academic embedded in bureaucracy supersede that of the principal who knows every student’s name, every parents’ job and the timing of every bus that comes to that school?”
Mr Richardson said the island needed more skilled trades professionals, adding: “Because of the first step, getting back to basics, we will have the statistical information to ascertain what skills are needed in the market and the professionals in the education authority, properly legislated to produce results, in a position to develop curriculum that equips Bermudians to work, live, raise families and retire in Bermuda.”
Mr Richardson painted a picture of an island facing issues such as dangerous potholes and overgrown roads, antisocial behaviour, gang violence, unaffordable food and electricity, a swamped hospital and “the rich getting richer while the poor flee the island”.
“Our island and community is decaying around us, our social virtues diminished with every act of violence, our financial security and future sacrificed with every budget deficit or outstanding audit; our infrastructure with every pothole and fallen wall, and on and on it goes.
“We have come face to face with the destruction of the fundamental right which has underpinned our society: that Bermudians can be born, raised, educated, live a full and meaningful life, retire, and pass away, resting in peace, all in Bermuda.
“Our distinctiveness, economic success, political stability and social values are being degraded every year.“
Mr Richardson took a swipe at the way government was being run, saying: “The staff of the legislature should be commended daily, operating with just enough resources to keep the people’s business going, but certainly not enough to stand up against the Government.
“Lest we forget, it is the Government that answers to these Honourable Chambers, and not the other way around.
“But equally, our affairs in this Honourable House are challenged constantly. Debates are suddenly thrust upon us, or mysteriously withdrawn. The dates of sittings held close to the chest of those in the know.
“Laws are being introduced and passed that slowly chew away the rights and privileges of this Honourable House. Hence this government does not need our permission for the special development order which will reshape Southampton for ever.”
“There are ideas in this Throne Speech which run against the public interest. This government wants to amend the legislation governing Parliament.
“Admittedly, they have not said what they seek to change, but any government notorious for divisiveness, a lack of transparency, low levels of trust, known to have a slippery tongue, with unfulfilled promises for good governance legislation seems very ill-suited to make changes to Parliament.”
He added: “It seems like every day, more and more of Bermuda is just one big rubber stamp for this government.”
Mr Richardson said the OBA supported ideas such as focusing more attention on uniformed services cadets and a single payment portal for all government services.
However, he said the Government’s economic development strategy and economic recovery plan “are case studies in poor execution”, adding that the Government has already said “for years and years and years, that it will streamline planning, digitise immigration, and modernise public service”.
“We even heard in 2021 about a Cybersecurity Bill, which clearly has not come to pass.”
He said the comment that “finally, road users can start to see relief from less than ideal road conditions”, “would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious”.
He highlighted that the Government said it would amend the Regulatory Act 2022, the Electricity Act 2016 and the Electronic Communications Act 2011 to provide greater public protections in pricing determination and implementation.
But he added: “We have yet to solve the crisis arising last month despite assurances from the Government that some version of relief for increased electricity bills will take place.”
Mr Richardson added: “To get out of this mess, it will take all of us working together with a clear vision of the potential of Bermuda. We can no longer afford to focus on settling old scores, pouring scorn and contempt on those different from us, or trying to bring about ideological fantasies.
“To get out of this extraordinary and once-in-a-lifetime challenge lands on the shoulder of every living Bermudian on this island today.
“It always seems impossible until it’s done. Let’s get back to basics. Let’s make the systems of government work again.
“Let’s make living in Bermuda easy again. Let’s make sure these problems don’t arise again. But in order to achieve this, we can’t keep going down the road this Throne Speech is taking us.
“We need to be willing to change, work towards the Bermuda imagined, led by leaders that lead by example, that listen to all voices in Bermuda, are willing to work with experts and diverse thinkers, with whom accountability matters, who act with integrity, and always puts the voters first. Imagine that Bermuda – and now let’s get to it, together.”
• For the full Reply to the Throne Speech, see Related Media
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