PLP Respond To Premier’s Cabinet Changes
The PLP said they are pleased to see that the Premier has seen fit to reduce his Cabinet, however “find it puzzling” that neither the Tourism Minister nor the Attorney General Mark Pettingill were removed from Cabinet.
The Premier announced this morning that he reduced his Cabinet from 13 to 10, with Nalton Brangman [Education], Sylvan Richards [Minister of Environment & Planning] & Leah Scott [Minister Without Portfolio] all eliminated.
Education & Economic Development are now combined under Dr Grant Gibbons, Health & Environment are now combined under Trevor Moniz and Patricia Gordon Pamplin was moved from Health to Works & Engineering.
In response a PLP spokesperson said, “The Progressive Labour Party is pleased to see that finally the Premier has seen fit to reduce his Cabinet. We, and most of Bermuda, have been calling repeatedly for this to happen over the past year, to no avail.
“We find it puzzling though that neither the Tourism Minister nor the Attorney General were removed from the Cabinet. The AG’s tenure has been marked by incompetence and inexplicable blunders, while the Tourism Minister’s role has been supplanted by the Tourism Authority and the de-facto Tourism Minister, David Dodwell.
“We are also disappointed to see that there has been a change in the post of Education Minister. As an Opposition, the OBA were very critical of the numerous Education Ministers under the PLP Administration. Now less than one year into their tenure, they have replaced the Education Minister. The teachers, students and parents deserve some continuity and stability.
“In addition, during a time when financial resources are challenging, the Premier could have himself taken on a Cabinet Ministry. This would have required one less person to receive a cabinet salary, and therefore provided cost savings to the country.
“To his credit, Premier Cannonier has finally realized the ‘urgency of now’, and has made the decision to reduce the Cabinet and shuffle responsibilities. We will wait and see how effective this Cabinet can be in service to the people of Bermuda.”
PLP need to STFU.
A silent opposition? That makes sense – - allow the government to do and say anything they want without another group at least speaking in opposition – - Yup, that makes complete sense?!?>!
Moral:
Don’t make stupid comments if you want to be taken seriously
Q
It’s the hypocrisy. We need a strong oppositon, one that is constructive not a bunch of whinging tosspots with faux outrage bleating at every single action. Bearing in mind the OBA are trying to clean up a PLP disaster.
My four year old makes better arguments than the PLP
The latest poll results tell me that you need to STFU! Grant and Fahy are still calling the shots! Lay down
Premier Cannonier will probably resign before the next election to make way for the rightful leader. No one gives him any respect, he was directed by a higher power (ubp) shhh keep it on the down low.
PUFF here today back to pumping gas 2 marra.
YOU guys don’t give him respect. That doesn’t mean no one does.
Absolutely, Bermuda is a better Bermuda after 12 months of OBA Govt.
As I saw someone rightly say yesterday:
“All the PLP seem to do is blame the OBA for what they haven’t done in 12 months, forgetting they did none of this in 14 years.”
Pure hypocrisy.
The thought of Marc Bean as Premier in 4 years time is why there will be no investment in Bermuda. PLP – standing strong to destroy jobs for Bermudians.
Ringmaster, you are blaming the lack of investment in Bermuda on the opposition leader?
The latest poll results were a poll of 100 people. Hardly representativeof a population.
This is so true. Because it’s the Oppositions job to not only challenge, but show the current Government in a bad light; they constantly attack the Premier. Unfortunately; they feel if they repeat something often enough it will become truth.
As for Michael Fahy; he just scares the crap out of em. Yes even with the challenges he has; is it not obvious everything he is involved in results on the PLP demanding he resign or be replaced?
PLP is TERRIFIED of him…..
What is really sad but true is that a host of PLP bloggers confidently predicted Premier Cannonier would be replaced within 12 months of taking office. If he lasts until after 17th December he will have proved them all wrong. Perhaps his fellow members of the OBA are giving him his due respect after all despite all the negative innuendo from those bloggers who will now no doubt predict that he won’t last another 12 months or until the next election.
Believe it or not, exactly the same was said of a another black politician who was labelled as weak and merely a figurehead – and he lasted a little longer than 12 months – closer to 12 years!
Be wary of negative bloggers and their predictions. They are usually so wrong!
Is Bean going to make way for the PlP real leader?
You won’t hear Grant Gibbons or Fahy call people “house N*****, or even smuggle 4 muslim prisoners from Cuba.
I don’t think its prudent for white people to use the N word and they’re aware of that.
It’s a word only black people can say, apparently.
i am one of many that is sickened by the use of that term especially by my own
If you want respect you must show it too yourself first.
LOL think about it
sorry “to”
No they will just call them “——–” in their own house!!
And black Bermudians, never , ever, ever, use derogatory terms when talking about whites at home? Keep pretending it doesn’t happen and keep throwing the race cards if that makes you feel better.
I can not speak for others but I can assure you that no such language will ever be tolerated in my home nor do I associate myself with anyone that does. Does it happen in the homes of some? I’m sure it does! How about your house! Hmm!?
Do you have anything construcktive to say or is race baiting the only thing you got.
You would like them to Shut Up, because that would allow your lot to do all the nonsense that they are doing?
Have you realised that Jobs are leaving the country.. Still blaming that on the PLP. Have you realised that there is no Inward investment – Blame that on the PLP still?
We have a democracy, it allows you to say STFU and the PLP who got 47% of the vote to say what they like.
My lot?
You assume too much.
What a strong and effective Response PLP. Continue to stand strong and focus.
Hilarious. Do you even know what nonsense you are posting? Keep posting though, it provides the public the insight of the real PLP and why they were voted out in December 2012.
Actually it makes sense. There is no longer a tourism ministry so why have a minister of tourism? Also, our counterparts in the Caribbean have Premiers that also are ministers, so why does ours not have a ministry. That would save another $200K…..
Because the Authority isn’t set up yet.
So we have no dept. of tourism, and no tourism authority, but all these people still getting paid.
Ask them.
@Betty – Really??? He is acknowledging that the OBA has done something that the PLP should have done AGAIN, and you think he is standing strong. It wasn’t even his idea?
ALWAYS have a good laugh at all your posts. Second job should be a standup comedian.
I sat here and tried to figure out what in the world STFU means and by George I got it, It means (Stay Tuned For Understanding) because the O.B.A is always willing to teach a old dog new tricks, my how thoughtful of Sandgrownan, to want to stick up for the P.L.P so strong.
We’d get a lot further, if the PLP and their supporters just once admitted how bad they F&$ked this island. A little honesty, less whinging, less hypocrisy and a dose of self awareness.
Until then, yes, STFU .
When is Bean resigning so those pulling the strings can assume the controls?
I find it “puzzling” that the PLP have the gall to talk in public.
I find it “concerning” that they think they have any relevance after what they did to this country thrpguh their incompetence.
Take your puzzlement and concern and keep it.
Sandgrownan, do you find it puzzling that the OBA’s answer to cut the debt that took the PLP 14 years to create, was to double it in one year, with no strategy to pay back their new loan.
This is why Sven can’t train Johnny… because Johnny is a dumba$$.
The OBA had to borrow from the capital markets to repay debts to the government’s creditors (e.g. suppliers, consultants, staff) because the PLP ran up debt in ways other than issuing bonds. Better to pay the 5-6% in the capital markets than the 15% or more that creditors charge.
Thank you for giving Sven job security. He appreciates it.
Not at all. The PLP had already committed to expenditure and there was simply no choice but to borrow further. Your question actually demonstrates a singular lack of understand.
The borrowing was to pay existing bills, not for grandiose public works and capitalt projects.
They have a point re: the Education Minister, not that they have any room to talk however. We have had something like 13 of them over the last 15 years. Every time a new person is appointed, he or she has to learn the ropes and essentially start from scratch.
This is no slight against Dr Gibbons. He’s probably the most educated man in Bermuda and smart enough at least to realise the systemic problems in our public education system, and hopefully to begin to address them. But the question must be asked: why didn’t he have the job from the beginning? And what do we have to show after a year of Minister Nalton Brangman?
The OBA has continued the PLP’s legacy of treating the education portfolio as a half-hearted game of pass the parcel. Is it any wonder the system is in shambles?
Are the PLP forgetting they were the ones who created positions such as “Minister Without Portfolio”? The PLP are such hypocrites, and it makes me sick.
PLP didn’t create Minister Without Portfolio. That was the UBP – get your history correct.
So you agree that the PLP continued with it for 14 years? Why didn’t they abolish such a post? Why is there such an outcry now for the OBA to abolish such a position? 14 years of the same old and now criticize the OBA. Pathetic, but shows the PLP in their true light.
@ LR who cares , what about the friends and cronies program me they developed. the word HYPOCRITES says it all. Well said Justin
Fact – if the PLP saw it as a bad thing – why didn’t they fix it at any point in the last 14 years? I would suggest that they either:
a) were loving the benefits of the extra paychecks and expense accounts.
b) didn’t really see it as a bad thing
c) didn’t think they would lose the last election and thought they could fix it before the next election while benefiting from it a little longer.
d) never thought about it.
e) inept
I vote for ‘e’.
He’s just a young buck, forgive him.
Deep down, it must be difficult for the PLP to be critical when it so frequently requires them to reflect on their own poor performance to do so.
Still, relative to many of their other public statements this is a measured and reasonable critique. I agree with their perspective on the position of tourism minister.
This is not a measured and reasonable critique. They were calling for Nalton Brangman to go and now that he has, they are saying they want “consistency” in the Education portfolio. Yesterday, David Dodwell contradicted everything that Wayne Furbert said in his press statement and yet they are still saying the same thing about the Tourism minister.
Oh and to top if off, in 14 years, the PLP had something like 8…8!…education ministers. Possibly even more. They really have no room to talk.
OBA, get your PR sorted out.
I did say “relative to their other public statements”.
..and I think it was 11 Education Ministers.
And they do admit they had “numerous” Education ministers. Now let’s see them admit they put the country into debt.
Why did they have 11 with one trying twice?
The PLP governance has made my children suffer!
As a recent university graduate looking for a job, I can tell you that is certainly the case for me!
How’s the OBA working out for you?
The PLP governance has made us ALL suffer and we may not recover…we are in a depression with the PLP to blame and they whine on complaining over EVERY issue …no one in the PLP would be able to make it outside of Bermuda
I imagine a lot of things are puzzling to these bounders.
Yeah, like tying shoelaces…….
the plp are a bunch of dinosaurs!
They need to understand they were even more puzzled when in power,. Puzzled as to where can we spend UN-NECCESARY money that we really don’t have. It sums them up. Puzzled is a nice polite adjective for them, Stunned Mullets, incompetent, useless and I could go on.
I just learned a valuable lesson, that lesson is, never take a sip of your cocktail then start reading a plp response to anything!!!! I just sprayed a costly cocktail over my keyboard!!! The plp’s nonsense will never stop!! They need to STFU until they admit their dismal failures and learn to be a part of the solution for all the hurting they caused locals today and well into the future!!!! The plp were being told over and over that they were destroying this Island and because of shear incompetence or greed, take your pick which one, they would not listen to anyone but themselves!!!!!! The only thing I want to hear from them, is an admittance too the damage they caused and an apology!!!!
as if the PLP were ever interested in providing “cost savings to the country” when they were in power!
As each week goes by it becomes clearer that the PLP are traumatized by the loss in December 2012 and the need to be re-elected. They have no interest in the survival or betterment of Bermuda or Bermudians, but just their own personal selfish interests.
That’s correct, these guys in the PLP only have one goal, and that is to get those six figures rolling in. They couldn’t give two hoots about the “people of Bermuda” We made a lot of PLP people rich in the 14 years they had in office, its time for them to sit back and watch how its done.
They are so traumatized if is like “Groundhog Day”…EVERY DAY!!
I find it appalling that the Premier has the gall to appoint another Minister of Education with no experience in education whatsoever.
How many of the many PLP Education Ministers had backgrounds in education?
The real PLP no longer exists. Dame Lois’s and Dame Jennifer’s legitimate political movement has been stolen by the Godfather and his Capos and turned into money grubbing patronage machine – their problem is they need a Government for it to work… The OBA’s best efforts not withstanding, there will be no real investment in Bermuda as long as this unsavoury bunch stand any chance of winning an election.
It’s curious….. Sylvan Richards…????. He actually worked…. I do understand the need however to cut down the number of cabinet ministers. But not Sylvan….
I liked him a lot as well. Hard working, honest and likable guy. Maybe it was his choice…who knows.
The TA is in the process of solidifying and finalizing itself. They have much to be done but in the mean time the Tourism Minister who is doing an excellent job needs to continue to oversea the ministry until the TA is fully functional.. This is common sense Bermudians…
What the former govt thinks.They killed Bermuda with their incompetence and suspected co……………!
The PLP statement is kind of funny seeing that the last PLP cabinet, under Paula Cox, was about the same size.
Politricks as usual…from both parties…Some of the Premier’s appointments puzzle the mind…and some of PLP’s reactions seem childish…IMO we need a education Minister who can honestly give it his/her FULL and undivided attention…Also, Pat Gordon-Pamplin could be the Health minister instead of W&E ministry…It would make sense, beeing that females are more health concious and men are more inclined to be attracted to the “works and engineering” field…Also, what ever happened to “The Ministry of Youth?”…
Good thing the OBA are only going to be the Govt for 1 term!!!
Good thing for who?
looks like the PLP are making a concentrated effort to respond on Bernews…Central Committee order Betty and her crew to get busy again….
Bernews, looks like a big change in the ratio of likes to dislikes on comments with comments critical of the PLP being down voted. This started a few days ago, might want to look to see if someone is gaming the voting.
Revealing how the PLP take every opportunity to ask for the head of the Attorney General. Scared of him uncovering the truth behind huge cost overruns. Perhaps also the reason why the Cab Secretary has just had his own reshuffle in the PLP-run civil service.
The PLP were clueless as Government, by simply failing to Govern their (own) !! Now they are clueless windbags. All need be said by the PLP is apologies everytime they open their traps .
It does not matter if they apologise for the dire situation they put us in. They don’t deserve forgiveness, not of after the time & the frequency of events that got us here, never mind the time taken for any acknowledgement that they screwed us big time.
The easily fooled will forgive, just like they have at every election. I guess they like licks.
I for one can’t afford more licks…the country deserves better than what we had…sorry but my emotions now take a back seat to the reality we find ourselves in collectively. I’m just sick and tire of the ‘ us and them’ bullshyte…cuz all of us go down together if the OBA can’t find and fix the links in our ship.
No party will ever get my vote that
a. wants racial disharmony
b. shows that they are all about them and “those that look like them” and says so (as Bermudians don’t look the same so the logic is flawed)c. spend so much time is the past they think they are in it
d. doesn’t at least come to my door and lets me know them first hand
e. galvanizes its support base through hate
LOL truely evaluate the parties it really is a vote for the “lesser evil”
If the PLP win the next election,we Bermudians will have nothing,unless we are a govt minister!
Well the Arabs had their spring.
I feel Bermuda Onion Soup in the future.
The ingredients are falling into place.
Shalom.
2 dislike?
Reality.
Shalom.
Who gives a hoot what the PLP thinks,after the malaise they put us in?