New Website To Detail Minister’s Travel Costs
The Government said they are “in the process of finalising a travel website detailing Ministerial travel costs, which can be viewed by the public,” adding that the “website launch is forthcoming.”
That statement was included in the Government’s response to questions from the Opposition after the trip to New York by Premier Michael Dunkley, Minister Grant Gibbons, Minister Shawn Crockwell, and Senator Jeff Baron.
The group attended a media event, met with various business entities, and also attended the the Bermuda Perfumery’s Mary Celestia shipwreck fragrance launch in Tribeca.
In addition to the Government officials, former Premier Dr Ewart Brown also attended the Mary Celestia fragrance launch, and both he and Premier Dunkley were pictured with actress Catherine Zeta Jones.
Love it when political differences are put aside to rep hard for #Bermuda. @BermudaPremier x 2. #WearHistory pic.twitter.com/Ufp7DnJXNN
— Glenn Jones (@BdaGlenn) September 25, 2014
Speaking after the trip, Shadow Tourism Minister Zane DeSilva had said, “After the recent lecture by the Finance Minister informing Bermudians that ‘money doesn’t grow on trees,’ the recent junket which the Premier and a cadre of OBA insiders participated in raises questions.
“The public has a right to know why it was necessary for Premier Dunkley, Ministers Grant Gibbons and Shawn Crockwell, and Senator Jeff Baron to participate in this New York junket and how much Bermudians paid for it.”
In response, a Government spokesperson said that “New York is considered to be the business capital of the world and a critical market for Bermuda’s economy,” adding that “the public can be assured that the visit was prudent and fiscally managed.”
The statement concluded by saying, “The Government is in the process of finalising a travel website detailing Ministerial travel costs, which can be viewed by the public. The website launch is forthcoming.”
The costs of travel by Government officials has been debated for many years.
Read More About
Category: All, News, Politics, technology
Checkmate, Zane.
Do not ever for a minute underestimate Dr.Brown , he lives by this very simple rule ; keep your friends close but your enemies closer !
And I’m sure he bought his lovely wife Wanda a bottle of perfume to wear back to the ponderosa in the Vineyard !
He loves Bermuda but has nothing for the UBP/OBA .
Dispite the tremendous hate for Dr.Brown he does hve a wealth of Knowledge and even some important
contacts when it comes to Tourism
The Premier is no fool either because he knows this.
When one looks back on Dr.Browns record on Tourism he tried and done all sorts of stuff ‘ much of it still in use today ,some failures and Unfortunately quite a bit of extravagance.
He’s still in the mix!
.
Even though ya boy is smiling deep down he’s saying what a waste of F!@#ing film and to show his displeasure with de Dr. there he’s turned red.
Photo opp competition is a b!!@h.
LMFAO
See it is possible. You can actually put policits aside to better the country. Great pic Dunk, Brown and Zita-Jones.
I’m glad that a website will come out to outline gov travel. That will help and cut down on the chit chat and drama.
Little disappointed Dr. Brown didn’t see it fit to wear Bermuda Shorts
Why be, Bermuda shorts are a European concept so de European is wearing them.
LMFAO
Is that why the PLP looked like a bunch of $3,000 custom-made suits when they represented Bermuda?
Because $3,000 custom-made suits aren’t a “European conecpt” I suppose.
ROTFFLMFAO.
Now that, Zane, is what transparency is.
well let’s have it then. Cannonier had spoken about this too and it has yet to be done.
Much like PLP and PATI.
Except for the fact that like this transparency initiative, the OBA will make sure it is becomes reality and not false promises and sound bites.
Just like the legislation passed providing much more transparency for of Govt. quango financials passed in the last sitting of the House. Such progressive legislation will ensure shenanigans cannot be repeated.
Our Premier didn’t know before he left his itinerary should have been disclosed. And if planed government business meeting where taking place he needed a CS there. This proposal, is a smoke screen cover up. For perfume gate. A junket trip, he didn’t tell the people prior because it would not have withstood the smell test.
Ha nice try at back peddling
In this age of terrorism, why would any global leader publicly disclose a full itinerary prior to departure?
Bermuda might not be high on the risk factor for an attack but some of the people at the meetings might be.
Obama’s get posted, the leader of the free world, engaged in conflicts all around the world, and you are saying a Premier in a colony can’t, for security reasons, oh please
You know, if you believe all the details of every trip Obama takes are public knowledge, they you’re pretty naive and/or gullible.
And… uhh… Obama is the leader of the US. While he is exceptionally influential world wide, he is not the ‘leader of the free world’. There is no ‘leader of the free world’.
Turns out the Premier did disclose his itinerary before he left. And Bernews posted a story about it. http://bernews.com/2014/09/premier-ministers-promote-bermuda-in-ny/
I’m not necessarily a supporter of the Premier, or any politician, but facts are facts.
Was that before or after media reports of being at a private function, did this become a publicity tour
The story was posted on Bernews several hours BEFORE the perfume launch began which was shortly after the delegation’s first meeting took place in New York City. Those are the inconvenient facts.
Zane will find something about this to whine about.
Zane will whine…..he will say Ewart is there why not me?
The simple fact is that it was a Parliamentary question, the only reason he put it out in the press was for political points in the PLP’s extended election campaign run. After all how often did the PLP, including himself, provide full details on their travels as soon as they landed back in the country… PLP hypocrisy is getting nauseating, when are they going to actually evolve into a new party better suited for the needs of the present and future.
Ironic how paying someone to create and maintain this website will cost as much moving forward than the Premier’s travel expenses. You lot don’t think it through sometimes.
A website has start up costs (which arent that expensive) but it doesn’t have to be maintained full time at all. All it needs is an administrator – someone to input whatever information and that person will be whichever Minister. It’s pretty straightforward. Plus, it’ll probably be run through the Govt servers. Nothing new needs to be done.
Now onto the issue of Zane……..keep hitting them strikes, fella
His foot in his mouth…once again. (They say that if a dog defecates fast it wouldn’t defecate for too long) Now just may be he’ll give peace a chance?
Odds are they already have someone in that role in either ITO or the PR office
PLP thought doing what they did to this Island thru very thoroughly are you any better for it now
Like I said a smokescreen, you need a Web page to publish an intinary, and approximate cost. How many assistance does the Cabinet Office have for the Premier. I am still wondering why the Minister ofBusiness Development needs the Premier’s hand to conduct a Business meeting. And if the perfume launch was for Tourism exposure, what happened to the BTA representing. Taking politics out of it.
Why don’t you just call up the Minister for Economic development and ask him instead of whining on Bernews. Number is in the phone book.In fact, picking up the telephone and calling elected reps seems to be a lost art. Most whiners hit the comments before getting the facts.
You get what you want, then you complain that it cost money to give it to you.
It’s like dealing with 9 year olds.
OBA damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Thanks to our immature opposition
All very nice now if questions can be answered by the government on the floor of the House of Assembly where they should be instead of on a website. Just imagine the British government or the Congress of the United States stating that if you want answers to questions concerning the business of government; you should check out our political party’s Website? You can not imagine such an occurrence because in a mature democracy it just won;’t happen.
First things first Mr Williams….the PLP has to show up first and then ask questions
There won’t be any questions asked on the floor of the house though Alvin, because the PLP have promised to boycott Parliament until the governor is recalled. So presumably, unless the PLP is going to break its promise, it will not be in Parliament.
In a mature democracy the Opposition turn up!
In a mature sophisticated economy you don’t ask questions about stuff that is in the public domain for public consumption. Why spend time asking questions on discrete or static information?
As far as I can see, there were 3 events that these ppl went to. Zane is saying that the Premier has refused to say how much this cost. The Premier hasn’t even spoken about this event to anyone. How is Zane even making this stuff up!!??
We all know that this is a standard event and that Govt ministers would indeed fly up for it. It would happen under an OBA Govt and a PLP Govt.
Politics 101, Rhonda.
I for one would really like to know how much the PLP spent on all of it’s stupid overseas travelling while in Government. Do you remember taking the Gombey’s to Switzerland, and how many of the Swiss came here because of it? Now that’s a serious question. Zane DeSilva is screaming his mouth off again, with no conception of alluring business. It really makes me wonder how he got elected.
The Swiss came alright but they were not tourists, took the IB with them.
Can we have a comparison worksheet on the former Governments travel expenses. Then Rhonda will see smoke!!!
Now that would make very interesting reading.
It certainly would…
I’ll be reseving my comments until after I see the website.
Thanks for letting us know. We were all wondering what you thought.
no REAL Bermudian is interested in Zane or the plp anymore.
I wish just once that the opposition would prove credible. Zane is quite entertaining, so out of his league.
PR 101… don’t admit wrong doing, just promise to make changes…
Sounds like the Cox / Bean era of PLP leadership.
Don’t ask me how I know…I just know!