Gordon-Pamplin Responds To Transport Minister

July 12, 2012

Shadow Transport Minister Pat Gordon Pamplin responded to the Transport Minister Walter Roban, who yesterday [July 11] defended the ferry system and said: “Public criticism by the opposition is nothing more than an attempt to score cheap political points without offering any solutions.”

Ms Gordon Pamplin said, “With reference to the Minister’s statement, he acknowledges that the ferries have been over-used and under-maintained, yet he has the temerity to accuse the Opposition of scoring cheap political points.

“He asks for solutions. We regret that the Minister and the government are bereft of ideas but, in this instance we offer the obvious solution – allocate the money to fix the ferries!

“The Public criticism of which he speaks is just that, criticism from the travelling public. At no point is anyone criticizing the crew and the mechanics of the Department of Marine and Ports. They are doing their best with the meager funding that they have been afforded by a government who squandered the public purse on cost overruns and poorly managed capital projects.

“I took the Rockaway 5:20 ferry on Tuesday (July 10) and noted that the ramp had not been fixed – in fact it was held up by a rope. This is after the Minister indicated in Parliament on Friday July 6, that the ramp had been fixed. He intentionally misled the House and the public.

“As I sat on the ferry waiting for it to leave the pier in Hamilton, I thought I would pass out from the extreme heat, as the air conditioning was not working,” continued Ms Gordon Pamplin.

“The crew did have the presence of mind to leave the doors open so that once the ferry started motoring towards Rockaway, the cool breeze helped to improve the stifling heat. The passengers did disembark on the side ramp onto the pier, where some of the railings are loose and are an accident waiting to happen.

“I also had the chance to speak to the crew, who expressed concern that while the air conditioning is not working, imagine what it is like for 200+ tourists getting on at Dockyard and until the boat hits the open sea, they are sucking for air as the heat is unbearable.

“The addition of a space air conditioner in the wheel house is a good fix as we cannot afford for the pilots to be overcome by the heat while they are commanding a vessel full of passengers.

“Rather than try to deflect the blame to everyone else but where it belongs, we need to just fix the ferries. In that way, the crew will not have to be on the receiving end of the ire of the travelling public. It is not fair to them.

“The Minister might also spend a voyage or two with the very professional crew and might be totally enlightened concerning their recommendations for efficiencies in the service. They are the experts, and should be listened to,” concluded Ms Pamplin Gordon.

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  1. Ferry Out Of Service, Forces Cancellations | Bernews.com | August 14, 2012
  1. Sean says:

    “Public criticism by the opposition is nothing more than an attempt to score cheap political points without offering any solutions.”

    Will this still apply if you find yourself in opposition after the election?

    What exactly would you suggest the role of the opposition is Mr. Roban?

    • Hmmmmmm says:

      Failure by the PLP cannot be blamed on the OBA. Clutching at straws there Sean.

      • Sean says:

        I have no idea what you’re talking about. I asked two questions. What straws am I clutching at, and when did I try to blame anyone for anything?

        My point is will that statement still ring true if the PLP is in opposition and criticizing the govt’s shortcomings?

    • UBP/OBA…..the ferries will require repairs, just like your car and yourself. From time to time, everything requires updating and fixing. Nothing exciting here, Pamplin also needs fixing…. as she is mixed up with OBA/UBP, not sure where she stands. This is no big deal…..the election has many of you acting silly, so Silly Season is in full swing….

  2. Hmmmmm says:

    Pat, the only missing from this statement is “at least when Ewart was in charge the damn things ran and ran well…..”. But you and so many others can’t bring yourselves to say it. Can you…..

    • media says:

      The problem is he spent it all, and then borrowed more too…

    • YES MATE! says:

      We weren’t completely broke back then like we are now fool!

    • Shaking the Head says:

      When Ewart was in charge the ferries were almost new – of course they ran well. What an inane comment.

    • Hmmmmmm says:

      What, the brand new ferries ran well under Brown!?!?! Stand up comedian in the building.

    • M.P.Mountbatten JP says:

      When Ewart was running around the ferries were brand new off the shelf numpty ..

    • The nitty gritty says:

      OK here goes!
      When Ewart was in charge the brand new ferries ran as you would expect them to. HAPPY?
      Now that he is in disgrace, his surviving Government has found there is no money left so ferries
      cant be fixed, overtime cuts for prison officers, cuts to police, Salvation Army and apparently dentists.
      My PLP friend told me we gotta vote PLP again just to punish ‘em for what they’ve done to the country. Why should the innocent OBA have to clean up this here mess!
      He also told me the difference between OBA supporters and PLP supporters
      OBA supporters sign the front of their cheques and PLP supporters sign the back!
      I don’t get it?

  3. Chart says:

    She’s right.

  4. Well said says:

    She has rarely impressed me but she is right on the money here. Well said.

  5. CAT says:

    She is damn right!!! I catch the ferry at rockaway and yes the AC has been broken for a few months now…at one point both bathrooms were “out of order” the ramp not so much an issue because we can get off on the side.

  6. Concerned says:

    100% agree

  7. Sooooo says:

    Thanks Pat, it was good to see you on the ferry getting a 1st handlook at what the passanges have to endure, and also Charlie Swan came down to Rockaway to have a look around and speak to passangers…..

    Wonder where the minister is hiding!!!!!

  8. xfiles says:

    I am on the 5:20 to Rockaway and its 100 degrees with no air conditioning and ceiling tiles removed.The Minister needs to be a man and take a ride with us.The opposition did and speaks the truth.No cover up and “Cogwash” from her.Just the truth.

  9. Truth (Original) says:

    Great comments

  10. Whats really goin on says:

    I dont know what to say to this except that we will never be happy know matter what. Pull the ferry up for service and we grumble, leave it in service and we still grumble. Somehow we are never happyy no matter what

  11. Opressed says:

    Now can the transport ministry spin on why we still have a temporary bridge on the causeway? We all know the busses and ferries are a shambles due to poor management. But every bit of infrastructure on this island is in deplorable shape. The roads, road sides, the causeway, busses, ferries, you name it, it’s a shambles. But they’re ALL sporting fancy clothes and cars.

  12. LaVerne Furbert says:

    Once again, it’s the PLP Minister that is lying, just like the CEO at BF&M was lying.

    I guess Mrs. Gordon Pamplin’s air conditioner has never broken down.

    She thought she would pass out from the heat? So prior to these news ferries, which by the way she and the rest of the UBPers said weren’t necessary, were people passing out from the heat?

    • Shaking the Head says:

      UBP said weren’t necessary? They were the ones that had planned fast ferries before 1998! It was the PLP that completed the implementation and took credit. Funny how they are now trying to spin this now that the $1.4 billion invested in infrastructure seems to have been overlooked.

      • Ferry Ferry True Statement says:

        The ramp is NOT fixed although the minister said it was – so YES HE IS LYING!

        Im sure he AC has broken down like Im sure yours has too. You pick up the phone and call a non BIU unionized / controlled company to come and fix it and rest assured it will be done, unless they cut off your credit. Maybe they called a BIU unionized company, and had the technician catch the bus to get there, which might explain the very wait for repair. Something tells me if you were without AC in your office or car you would find a way to get it fixed.

        If you were the CEO of BF&M and your biggest client (GOV) was behind in payment but just had an influx of cash would you bad mouth them? I understand that he said the GOV accounts were not in arrears. That does not mean they weren’t?? As the book keeper for a business in Bermuda I can tell you that MOST if not all GOV accounts are 90+ days past due. However, my boss knows not to complain – or else he can loose it all. The most frustrating part is that if GOV don’t pay for 120 days, OH WELL YOU WILL HAVE TO WAIT, like everyone else. But, if we are late paying payroill tax by 1 – YES 1 day – 5% penalty!

        Based on your comments I trust that should your beloved BIU bus drivers walk of the job because they are forced to work with NO A/C on buses you will tell them to go back to work because the old buses didn’t have AC?

        Something tells me if these were unionized and PAID UNION WORKERS complaining of having to work in extreme heat and being packed in the ferry like I have with no AC you would be on the talk shows defending them and calling for a strike and march!

        You are part of the reason why I gave up on supporting the PLP four years ago! When they like you and teh BUIU are wrong they can’t admit it and if they don’t like the fact that they are being questioned they try the race card (Many examples of this), or have that person arrestted (Larry Dennis), take away government moneies (Royal Gazette) or take away their businesses and hand it over to others (Bermuda Cement Company).

      • YES MATE! says:

        LaWerne needs to have a look back in history. The UBP came up with the idea and the Pee el Pee fasttracked it. Silly old girl.

        • Triangle Drifter says:

          How dare you question Laverne!!!! Don’t you know she speaks nothing but the absolute truth?

          Actually, it is well known that prior to 1998 it was determined that new ferrys were needed. It was under the PLP that new ferrys were selected & bought.

    • Drama Queen says:

      Pat’s dramatic and will say anything to get her own GP car

    • Sean says:

      Once again, you fail to address any of the actual points that were made. Care to refute something she said with an actual fact?

      • Drama Queen says:

        @Sean – yes, “she almost passed out” – this coming from someone who grew up without a/c?

        • Sean says:

          Drama Queen – I don’t see a fact in your statement

    • sandgrownan says:

      Laverne you’re being disingenuous again. Give it up.

      The PLP continues to be a failure.

    • Come Correct says:

      You’re still here commenting with all the hooded characters cowardly hiding their identity? Remember that? If not I could throw that up in your face along with the extensive list of stupid comments from laverne furbert stained over the internet. While your here though, there’s a simple way to clear this up, show the public the receipt for the payment, simple. Then again with the amount of time that’s gone by now the plp could just “mock something up like yesterday” huh. The fact of the matter is roban has lied once again, his head should roll. I actually thought he was a good guy, just another cog in the wheel I guess.

  13. Argosy says:

    He’s in his new house from which he commutes in his a/c GP car!

  14. Truth is killin' me... says:

    He’s busy at the bank cashing his paycheck!

  15. Liars! says:

    LaWerne they said they were not necessary because they did not have the money to go on a spending spry like a bunch of drunken fools like your beloved PLP have for the last 14 years.

    Some other people actually have the best interest in the country at heart and would only spend our precious money on necessities….not parting at the Playboy Mansion with perverts and pedophiles.

  16. street wise says:

    The Opposition is doing their job; opposing & questioning Government policy, as they should. But we keep hearing typical repetitious PLP boilerplate rhetoric like this: “Public criticism by the opposition is nothing more than an attempt to score cheap political points without offering any solutions.”. That is so wrong that it is a blatant lie. C’mon Bud, you can do better than that. The ferry service is a disaster just like your PLP Government. It’s YOUR responsibility to clean up your own mess, not the OBA’s to offer solutions. YOU come up with solutions!

  17. The Truth (Most Imitated) says:

    What Walter Roban said yesterday was the biggest crock of Bull I have heard in a long time. I couldn’t stop laughing. Six million dollar ferries. He is making excuses for the Marine and Ports Departments failure to maintain the ferries. 1. Keep parts that wear down fast in stock at all times. 2. A proper preventive maintenance program. Ferries always running is no excuse for poor management. But I’m not surprised Cedarbridge, Berkeley, the Buses, Tynes Bay Incinerator and many government buildings etc are all in bad shape because of lack of accountability and proper maintenance programs. In a word ‘UNBELIEVABLE’.

    • Ferry Ferry True Statement says:

      The only Governmet offices in good shape these days are the ones that they lease.

    • More with less says:

      I heard it on the radio that morning and I thought to myself, wow they really do have an excuse for everything now matter how pathetic it sounds. At least all of us with right thinking minds can now see that their “investment in infrastructure” theme was all a farce. They invested in projects that were stupid and left the true basics of infrastructure to rot.

  18. Real says:

    I am sure the CEO of BF&M didn’t want all those government health care policies to end up at Argus, Colonial or anywhere else. I would have fixed the damn invalid statements and said what he did too. You all are so easy.

  19. Cheque says:

    And Pamplin is not cashing hers? She get paid 6 figures and then collects shadow minister salary – who’s double dipping?

    • YES MATE! says:

      How is she double dipping?

    • Goose says:

      Member of Parliment is not a career choice. Nobody should ever enter politics figuring that they are now set for life. It’s midsets like that which have left us 1.5bil in debt.

  20. George Courtney, Jr. says:

    don’t worry, with the $180 mill that bda just picked up, all of its financial woes will now being going away

    • street wise says:

      If you believe that is true, I have some land to sell you in Florida. This Island will continue to self-destruct so long as the PLP are in power. It’s that simple.

      • George Courtney, Jr. says:

        @street wise, how about a swap for the bridge that i own in brooklyn :) :)

  21. Truth is killin' me... says:

    Our Premier is TRIPLE dipping and is Minister of Finance etc. etc. and is doing a half a$$ job at that!!!

  22. questioning says:

    I just wonder if these ministers make up these responses themselves or do they take their lead from their permanent secretaries that seem quite clueless often times and insult the intelligence of rational thinking people. I am not saying all PS are inept, but from the media publications of not following financial instructions, mocking up contracts tolets pretend like were a “team building exercise” really makes we wonder how much influence these high level civil servants in advising their relevant ministers.

  23. The nitty gritty says:

    There is a salary attached to “shadow ministers”? How much exactly?

  24. questioning says:

    Do the Permanent Secretaries assist with advising their relevant ministers or do ministers simply just make up these things themselves? Itf this indeed the case it is an complete insult for rational thinking people.

  25. Reverend Pastor says:

    Why does PLP get upset when the OBA does its job? The opposition is supposed to pick holes in the ruling party. PLP needs to grow the F up.

    Oh, and praise the lord.

  26. Same old OBA/UBP trolls at it again….same thing every day….making no valuable points, except hiding out in Cyber-Space spitting out the OBA/UBP Rhetoric, in a desperate pledge to get folks to vote for them….sad indeed…those that know, can see through this political strategy and agenda. Same day, Same BS, Same nonsense, same low level of debate, same UBP folks. Nothing new….OBA/UBP has not changed a bit.

    • Pastor Syl Hayward says:

      @ Special girl 4 you: so says the one who doesn’t sign her name and has nothing new or constructive to say, ever! I see you are back. Didn’t miss you at all – but then we had Betty Trump to take your place.