By Craig Cannonier, JP, MP, Leader, One Bermuda Alliance, January 26, 2012
We have some preliminary comments to make about the Auditor General’s Special Report on the Misuse of Public Funds.
This a deeply troubling report because it reveals elected and senior officials working the system to move public money into private hands, regardless of rules designed to prevent such abuses.
It also reveals the Government using its power to deny information to the Auditor General, prompting her to question whether it had “something to hide.”
This is the same government that has launched a PR campaign to persuade voters that it is wholly committed to good governance for Bermuda.
The Auditor General’s report raises major concerns about the Government’s ethical leadership.
The “misuses” of the people’s money, she said, raised questions about the ‘tone at the top” of government and whether “Government officials at the most senior level will do the right thing.”
The Auditor General, furthermore, concluded that her two investigations “indicate a complete disregard for the concept of good stewardship of public money. I continue to be amazed by… the lack of commitment to good governance.”
These are damning statements.
What should this mean to the people of Bermuda?
It indicates that Government priorities are not the people’s priorities. This is a Government, after all, that is laying off teachers, cutting back on social services, holding off on road repairs – while making a big deal about being careful with the people’s money and doing “more with less.”
Although the monies involved in these two investigations are not significant, the ‘misuses’ exposed by the Auditor General reveals a climate in which rules are disregarded and accountability to the people is not important. It reveals, in short, a government for insiders.
The Government’s reported attempts to thwart the Auditor General’s investigations and “cover-up” the misuse of the people’s money is particularly troubling.
We will have more to say on these special reports in the days to come.
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