PLP: Premier’s Consultant Claim A “Fabrication”
The Premier’s recent statement that the previous Government spent upwards of $100 million a year on consultants is a “fabrication,” PLP Chairman Maynard Dill said.
Mr Dill said the figures [PDF] on “the government website show the correct figure from the year referenced is $50.7 million. Furthermore that figure was reduced to $33 million the following year.”
“Though we understand that the OBA is anxious to justify their awarding of lucrative consulting contracts, we would advise as their campaign promises guaranteed, that all decisions would be transparent, justifiable and absent of cronyism,” said Mr Dill.
Speaking recently, Premier Craig Cannonier said: “I can assure you that I remain committed to controlling government spending across all sectors, including by reducing the amount of government consultants.
“In 2010/11, the previous Government spent upwards of $100 million a year on consultants, which we believed to be extremely excessive. We will not duplicate their mistakes.”
The subject of consultants recently came to attention after former PLP Public Relations Officer Corey Butterfield was hired for one year on a $120,000 contract as a ‘Policy Analyst and Special Advisor’ within the Ministry of Tourism Development & Transport.
Mr Dill’s full statement is below:
On the same day that the OBA Chairman sent an unsolicited political email to Bermudians that contained fairy-tale numbers; Premier Cannonier released a statement from Government that repeats these same fictitious numbers. The PLP would like to correct the record, which is available for the OBA Chairman and the Hon. Premier to read on the Ministry of Finance website.
The Hon. Premier and the OBA Chairman have said, “In 2010/11, the previous Government spent upwards of $100 million a year on consultants.” However the figures on the government website show that figure to be a fabrication. The correct figure from the year referenced is $50.7 Million. Furthermore that figure was reduced to $33 Million the following year.
Though we understand that the OBA is anxious to justify their awarding of lucrative consulting contracts, we would advise as their campaign promises guaranteed, that all decisions would be transparent, justifiable and absent of cronyism. As our Leader, the Hon. Marc Bean, has stated unequivocally, we will not object just to object.
In the same vein, we ask that the OBA does not use inaccurate information to justify their actions. This for all Bermudians is a slippery slope. We ask the OBA, as the current government of Bermuda, to stand by their campaign promises and not use unfounded and spurious information to justify their actions.
We, the Progressive Labour Party, stand by our Leader’s commitment to work with the current government when their agenda is in the best interest of all stakeholders in Bermuda. But we will not accept efforts that further an atmosphere that is not conducive to bipartisanship and acts to further polarize our country.
The full breakdown of all government professional services can be found here [PDF].
Read More About
Comments (41)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
Articles that link to this one:
- Weekend News, Links, Photos, Videos & More | Bernews.com | January 21, 2013
Indisputable numbers need to surface.
Maynard just keep an eye on those engines and stop being another PLP puppet.
Sorry but the majority of Bermudians and expats are already saying this, so don’t shot the messenger. Michael Dunkley, Grant Gibbons and Bob Richards all have more brains in their hands then Craig has in his skull. So let’s just call him what he is a Puppet Premier.
maynard is a joke!! as head of the estu he stood for foolishness for years at belco. now the company is in trouble and the average man has to pay exorbant electrical prices. belco is over staffed and over paid. we average as pay per hour at $33. time you add benefits and the rest it reaches $47 per hour hour. hotels, restaurants, groceries, IB and us all have to pay for excess cost and excess staff. then majority work 37.5 hours and really put in an average of 28hours. sad no true business concept.
I was just thinking that he should take his pdf and tie it up with C Furbert’s ties. I wouldn’t believe any statistics from anyone other than our unseen Accountant General and/or Heather Matthews.
The civil service is non-partisan. They don’t have to make up the figures.
Do you really think that if in Bermuda, the civil service produced fake numbers that we’d have good credit ratings or be known as a reputable jurisdiction.
c’mon now!
The Civil Service WAS non-partisan… until the plp became the so-called government.
at the end of the day the OBA have 1 local consultant that costs a fraction of the 40M that was given, yes given to global hue….btw are they still in business?
They are more then likely enjoying the mint they made off of the public purse and just maybe down in the Carribean.
duane, you are finally waking up to what the former government done…..
It all depends on who you count as a consultant doesn’t it? The PLP’s figures are still enormous and they should not be proud of that. Shame.
Hahaahahaahaha – Maynard?????? Give me a break, What a joke! C’mon Marc Bean you can do way better than this. Please bring the party into the real world.
One local consultant hinted about his earnings. I hope the election has humbled him
excellent rebutal/repreman Mr. Dill.
How is it an excellent reply? I mean given the fact that the previous administration never tabled the 2011/12 audited financials, how can you confirm if these numbers are true?
Another political lightweight trying to grab the headlines!
I suggest Dill produce a list of all local and overseas consultants hired by the PLP government during it’s terms in office, plus a list of all salaries and perks associated with these hirings.
Then he can explain the mysterious disappearance of the key persons whom we pay to handle our finances, prior to the election!
If he isn’t prepared to do this, he should concentrate on keeping BELCO’S engines clean, and let grown folk deal with these matters.
The PLP are proven liars and this is on record many times over. They will say absolutely anything to make the OBA look bad.
Guess those grapes taste real sour……….
In that case its a pity that all you did was pull the race card instead of doing any real work. Instead of moaning about whitey, you should have run the country. F U PLP you are the architect of your own demise.
Effing losers!
I’ve never seen such a sore winner. Imagine if the UBP lost the election you would probably be the maddest person in the world. Grow up choir boy, or maybe you are just a boy.
Johnny. Get real.
Thank goodness Maynard Dill has come out and told the truth. Maybe he can now say why the PLP needed around 280 Consultants ($33 million divided by $120,000 per year) each year. This is in addition to around 8,000 Government employees and 13 Full Time Cabinet Ministers.
I agree with you, even at the low figure of 33 million for 2010/2011. What a waste of money, I didn’t see any positive improvements. How many worth while programs could have been started and maintained with that kind of money. Jokers the lot of them.
I’d be interested in a breakdown of the Contractors’ fees in the PDF. We all know that certain items can get buried in other areas. I am sorry that PDF is not enough.
At any rate $33Mill may still be much too high.
We shall see what is really needed.
plp need to produce people that have run a proven business. maynard can’t run himself, let alone speak on bermuda’s finances. find a more credible person plp!!!
@ Concerned,
I assume you are the CEO of the credible persons board? It sounds like you are attacking a man for correcting a figure. What’s so wrong with that? You are a hater my fellow Bermudian.
I am not a hater, I just know him really well. I could not even run the estu which he has been replaced, let alone try to run bermuda’s finances. the truth is non other than the truth. sorry not a hater at all.
@Concerned,
I know him very well myself, and you are still a hater. What does him working for Belco have to do with this article?
P.S. I know he can be an a$$(have known him my whole life(, but what you are saying have nothing to do with this article Hater. lol
With all due respect to Mr. Dill and him bringing this to the public’ s eyes but I would hope he is not proud of these figures? To be near double for such is a disgrace to the party that was in power and why they were not re-elected!!!!
I cannot see why boasting of such figures is relevant when we are only talking about the hiring of 1 ex PLP consultant???
Oh I get it now!!!
@ OMG,
Did you just fall off the yellow bus? He bascially is challenging the premier’s figures, thats all. And how did challenging the Premier’s figures turn into BOASTING?
I swear some of you people have the OBA stuck so far up your a$$, you all don’t know your a$$ from your elbow!
im sorry regardless of whether or not its 100 mil or 50 mil….both is still a huge amount of money to be spent on someone telling you what to do..and with the PLP we got no worthwhile results..OBA spend wisely
the plp and the biu are experts in LYING.
$50.7 million on consultants in one year.No wonder we are a broke country.The former PLP ministers and M.Ps should be made to pay back their salaries to the taxpayers.What a waste,but heh,if you were a friends and family guy,like Dr.Thomas,Renee and Rolf you would not have complained.
It is such a relief we have a new govt.Can you imagine what Bermuda would be like after another term of the PLP?
Don’t forget Cyril….
@Bobmarlin,
If you really want to go there with MP’s paying the taxpayers back, how about we dig real deep to see how much has been stolen from the public (or people) for the last 30 40 years? IF you are a person who seeks the truth, I assume you would support this?
Fifty million on consultants and fifty million kicked back to party – one explanation for the difference.
Lol. WHat a nightmare!
50 MIL ON CONSULTANTS…..LETS SEE WHAT THE OBA SPENDS
Mr Dill said the figures [PDF] on “the government website show the correct figure from the year referenced is $50.7 million. Furthermore that figure was reduced to $33 million the following year.”
This Schedule does not show any ACTUAL figures! There is not even an ACTUAL # for 2011/12!
Original estimate 2011/12 80M
Revised estimate 2011/12 90M
Estimate 2012/13 85M
So…….where does he get 55.7 and 33M??
Perhaps he can explain. I’m sure Minister Richards will set him straight. They can no longer spin/lie now that we have access to the books – thank goodness.
Can we cancel these obvious Friend&Family Consultancy contracts? Or, at the very least, check and make sure that we received the full “services” these consultants were to have provided? If they have not fulfilled their contract, then we should not pay them any more money left on the contract. While we’re at it, we should get the AG to sue Global Hue for services UN-rendered! Every time I think of that debacle I get wild with anger. Another Dr Evil hand out.
the PLP are now the complainers party !
I am so glad this has finally been clarified and I take back everything I said about the former Government……all along I thought they were spending way too much money on consultants and to find out it was a meager $50,700,000 and only $33,000,000 the next year puts my mind at ease….Thank you Mr. Dill ….now if I only knew who they paid the $84,000,000 to over a two year period I will be even more grateful to the PLP Government for their stellar handling of the public purse…..