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At the June 6 2014 Parliamentary session during the debate
on the Elections Committee report, the Finance Minister, the Hon Bob Richards
made a number of comments regarding contracts I have held with the Bermuda
government. In light of his significant misrepresentations in this respect I am
compelled to respond to bring clarity where darkness has clearly descended.
The Hon member commented that my company had received a
contract from the Bermuda government for $770,000. This does not have one
scintilla of truth behind it. When challenged on this, the Hon member Bob
Richards retorted, and I quote, “I have access to civil servants…this
information is authoritative…I’m not making this stuff up.” Mr Speaker, this
clearly was made up since the member later indicated the figure he cited was a
sum of a number of contracts over a period of years. I await a formal
retraction of his earlier comments as directed by you Mr Speaker to help ensure
members do not deliberately or otherwise mislead this honourable chamber.
The Hon member Bob Richards cited my contracts with the
Bermuda government as part of his argument about “insiders” during the debate
on disclosure of interest by candidates. In describing me as an “insider”
during the PLP’s tenure in office the member is inferring unfair if not
improper access to government contracts. Mr Speaker, my contractual
relationship with the Bermuda government began in 1989, when I was hired as a
consultant by the National Alcohol and Drug Agency to re-write an
indecipherable report by an American consultant. You will note, Mr Speaker, this was some nine
years before the PLP became the government. My work with the Bermuda government
continued under the years of the United Bermuda Party in the 1990s. Not one of
these contracts was put out to tender. The Hon member Bob Richards will have
this information at his disposal because he has, in his words “access to civil servants.” The honourable member will also know that I
was clearly not an insider during the UBP years. My relationship with the
Bermuda government continued, intermittently, under the PLP government, and
even extended to the OBA term of office when I undertook a survey for the
Tourism Board. Again, the honourable member will know this.
Mr Speaker, robust debate is the hallmark of the
parliamentary system. We have wide latitude, under your guidance, to expound on
our arguments and to articulate our positions. What must not be allowed is for
members to present false information without consequence and to manipulate such
information to denigrate one of our fellow members.
