The UBP have a couple of statements (here and here) on their website regarding the fallout of the Privy Council defeat for the Government and the victory for accountability of public officials and the protection of freedom of the press.
John Barritt's comments are important, because he takes the decision to its next necessary step, which is using this landmark decision as a launching pad for fundamental parliamentary reform.
Bermuda's legislature and political system has stagnated and is not modernising. We are being left behind, by competing jurisdictions which are not without their own problems but appear more foresighted than our current Government who are blinded by their obsession with a 50 year old battle, a fight which can't be fought with the only tactics they know.
The public are increasingly moving ahead of the PLP Government, who have emulated and escalated the worst of the behaviour they condemned as opposition. We need reform as John says:
I cannot say that the decision is the end of the matter though.This isn't the sexiest stuff, but it's fundamental to our continued evolution as a country and a people. There's only one party which has committed to limiting its own power and open itself up to scrutiny.Nor is the further publication of any further information. That’s not good enough either.
I think the entire matter of the BHC scandal from start to finish has shown up the deficiencies of our system of government and underscored the need for reform – meaningful and serious reform that is long overdue here in Bermuda.
The expenditure of public money and the operation of any Government department or of any Government funded quango should be subject at all times to review and investigation by a more active Public Accounts Committee of the House of Assembly, or a working sub-committee thereof, which meets consistently and regularly, if not weekly, with all the necessary powers to summons Ministers and civil servants to account, and whose meetings should be open to the press and public.
It's time to move into the next century.
Posted by Christian S. Dunleavy