Commissiong: SAGE Award Should Be Returned
Opposition MP Rolfe Commissiong criticized the SAGE Commission for awarding the top prize to civil servant Magnus Henagulph, saying that the funds should be returned and given to another recipient.
Mr. Henagulph, who works within the Department of Communications and Information [DCI], submitted a 19-page document which covered a multitude of ideas to reduce Government expenses such as demanding more accountability for sick days, closing CITV and reducing spending on frivolous items.
Audio of Mr Commissiong’s statement in the House of Assembly
Speaking on Friday during the Motion to Adjourn in the House of Assembly, Mr Commissiong said: “Mr. Henagulph, of course, won the award of $12,500. That award was given to him over other submissions, there were others who received some funds as well for their submissions. We know that one of the former Ministers in the PLP MP’s son, a young Mr. Perinchief who was quite impressive for his age, he also got an award as well. But Mr Henagulph took the top award.
“And upon closer inspection, by many in the community and observers, there was things that were very problematic about Mr. Henagulph’s submission. There’s no doubt that throughout here you can find laudable recommendations. But, surely after the report was made public, prematurely I might add, as has now been conceded, what was the rush to publicize it, I might add, and frankly, and I will explore this a little later, why would an award be given to a submission so riddled with factual errors, typos, etcetera?
Mr Commissiong continued, “But the shame of this is, as I alluded, is that having done so, the SAGE Commission is now tied at the hem to this submission. And it’s impact in terms of causing a diminution of credibility in the work of the SAGE Commission on the part of Bermuda’s people. That is what is the greatest damage here.
“I think it’s be a great public relations for the SAGE Commission to request that those funds that were given to Mr. Henagulph be returned to them so that they can give them to a more worthy person. That being young Mr. Perinchief and his submission.”
Mr Henagulph has been out of the office this week, hence has not responded to our request for comment. All the submissions can be read here on the SAGE Commission’s website.
Mr. Commissiong, I would suggest that you return a large chunk of what you have been paid by the people of Bermuda over the past few years. I don’t feel that we received value for the money spent on you and there are more worthy individuals that have done more to help race relations (or at least not harm them) than yourself.
Many thanks and have a great day.
How about the tens of thousands he cost the taxpayers of Bermuda sometime back for west end accommodation? Seems a ‘debt paid to society’ is really a cost to society.
Mr. Commissiong, I know and like you. That being said, I also know and like Mr. Henagulph.
Both of you have Bermuda at heart. Mr. Henagulph had the testicular fortitude to express what he knew in an effort to positively, and truthfully, influence the country as a whole. He had no political agenda, he had, and openly shared, his suggestions, which I might add, were requested in the form of this contest.
Unfortunately Rolfe, your complaint just seems another ripple on the ocean of PLP knitpickery.
Lets all go do our best work and leave the politicking for many moons, puhleez!
That is your opinion Rolf, and after reading both twice, I disagree with your opinion. Neither of us are on the SAGE commission, so our opinions are MOOT. What is sad, is that you wasted Governments limited time by raising this in the house, when the house has more pressing matters to be dealt with.
Only in Bermuda do you win an award for trashing people, getting your facts wrong and having poor spelling and grammar. Why should he return it; he represents the mediocrity we never cease to celebrate in this country. After all, in spite of all its obvious flaws and how it has been discredited after closer scrutiny, Duperreault still thinks his submission was “terrific”. All because it suited his own attack agenda. So sad.
Please enlighten us as to what your submission to the SAGE Commission was? And yes I did take the time to make my own submission. I am glad that Mr. Henagulph made his submission, of which the overwhelming majority of the content was accurate and on point. You choose to concentrate on the small portions that had to be removed. Why? Again what was your submission about? Mr. Duperreault has a great deal of knowledge about Government waste after this exercise and along with the other Members would have seen Mr. Henagulph’s submission as a fairly comprehensive review of Government from the inside. What a good place to start. Myself being someone who has close knowledge of his particular department, I know where he is coming from. Good job Mr. Henagulph.
Hmmmm, who did Mr. Henagulph trash? What facts did he get wrong? Should Mr. Henagulph have won the award? That’s an issue for those who made the decision and in their opinion the answer is yes. It appears as though you are saying that some spelling and grammatical errors should discount his submission completely. You do not further your case by the ‘Only in Bermuda…’ line. That’s usually something said by people whose argument is invalid and flawed.. I would suggest that Mr. Henagulph, through his submission, has contributed more to getting Bermuda back on track than Mr. Commissiong has and for a lot less money!!
this is an example of why nothing happened before. move on we have alot of important issues to deal with worth more than $12500
Rolfe should be returned to his mother.
Ahahaha nice
How about he gives the money back and gets a promotion? This might motivate other civil servants to highlite problems and abuse whenever they see it!
why because he had some guts?
Mr. Henagulph didn’t have guts, I think SAGE threw him under the bus because they realized that his submission spoke to their agenda. I was a SAGE submitter and I expected my submission to be confidential based on my conversation with a representative prior to submittal. Take SAGE to civil court MR. Henagulph.
@Youngster, all award winners signed a release form prior to the announcement of the awards giving the SAGE Commission permission to make their submission public.
@ SAGE Commission says:
September 18, 2013 at 3:46 pm.
Thank you for this information. Far too many posts are the result of posters not bothering to obtain the facts.
One another note, regardless of who won the prize he/she would have been severly criticised for one reason or the other.
Keep up the good work!
Rolfe, his submission was chosen because it was worthy enough to the panel who picked it as the winner. As far as you go, you are not winning anything from the people of Bermuda that you are supposed to be representing, so give back the unnecessary amounts of money that the PLP thought that you were worth, give back all that money that it cost to house you up west and any monies that you may have got away with with your bank robbery. All you do is whine and stir up racial hatred .
Like him or not, he’s right…..it should not have been an award offered in the first place. Even worse a civil servant should not be rewarded for writing a report derived from classified insider information. No different from Donal Smith, where has he been for the last 14 years, alla sudden u grew hair on yur balls?
The commission is entitled to see the information provided by Mr Henagulph and the decision to make it public was the Commission’s, not his.
that should be financially rewarded
Ralph: The people’s BUSINESS is larger than this!
Why don’t you (personally) come up with ways to reduce government costs and submit them to SAGE.
Why were you waisting time (and our tax dollars) in Parliament discussing the Award and its details. It’s private money?
The larger issue is how do we get our financial house in order.
Parliament is not meant to be a venue for personal hits! Most of your speech did ZERO to help Bermuda move forward. Sighhhh!
Please help move us forward and lift the level of debate…let’s discuss/debate things that matter!
Smith’s
P.S. Why didn’t the Speaker just cut Ralph off or put him back on track? In my view, most of his speech had zero to do with Parliament business!
Parliament is not meant to be a venue for personal hits! – since when? Dreamer.
I would wager that the grief Mr Henagilph experiences at the hands of the civil service drones will make him regret he ever made a submission..
Bernews
How do I get a copy of the audio of Premier Cannonier and his comments about ‘self determination’ in the House on Friday?
Attack the point, not the person. He has a point.
Well… What did you seriously expect from yesterday’s man – Opposition MP Rolfe Commissiong!!! Who really listens to this guy anyway??
@Triangle Drifter says:
September 18, 2013 at 11:12 am
***BINGO***