New $1472.97 Listing Added To Travel Page
A new listing has been added to the Government webpage detailing Minister’s travel costs, this one showing a cost of $1472.97 for a trip taken by Minister of Health, Seniors & Environment Jeanne Atherden.
The trip took place from Monday, October 20, 2014 – Thursday, October 23, 2014, with the location listed as New York and Washington, DC.
The website said, “The Minister was accompanied by Kevin Monkman, the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Health, Seniors and Environment. Dr. Tammy Trott, Senior Marine Resources Officer for the Department of Environmental Protection attended the meetings in her capacity as a Sargasso Sea Commissioner.”
The total cost was shown as $1472.97, with air travel listed at $496.45, ground transportation at $246.00, accommodation at $730.52 and no cost listed next to both meals and miscellaneous.
This is the second listing on the web page — which went live on October 7th 2014 — following after the listing detailing $3,228.15 in expenses for Premier Michael Dunkley’s trip to New York in September.
The Premier was accompanied by a delegation including Minister Dr. Grant Gibbons, Minister Shawn Crockwell, Premier’s Press Officer Nea Talbot, Senator Jeff Baron, Bermuda Tourism Authority CEO Bill Hanbury, and Bermuda Business Development Agency CEO Ross Webber.
The travel webpage did note that “the costs for persons accompanying the Premier are covered under their own Department. As such Senator Baron’s accommodation cost are reflected in the charges associated with the Premier.”
Speaking previously in response to the web page launch, Shadow Tourism Minister Zane Desilva said the site “which apparently was rushed out in an effort to deflect from legitimate questions, remains incomplete as the full costs of travel still have not been disclosed” as it “only shows expense for 2 of the at least 7 people that traveled on the government dime.”
In response to Mr Desilva, OBA Chair Senator Lynne Woolridge previously said that “other Ministers will soon post the details of their travel expenses to the website,” and that the “opposition’s misguided and mischievous criticism on this subject shows the desperate lengths to which they will go to try and score cheap political points.”
As of this writing, the total listed expenses for Minister’s travel on the webpage is $4701.12, with $1472.97 for Minister Atherden’s October trip and $3,228.15 for the Premier’s trip in September.
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Shame we didn’t have this during the so called “Platinum Period”.
How much did the trip to India cost us? We were supposed to have a Bollwood movie shot here as a result, never happened.
What about the China trip….I don’t see hoardes of Chinese tourists we were promised?
All travel under the PLP was documented and costs were always released to the public.
Show me where!?
C’mon WATCHING we are
waiting………………
Still waiting………
I’m watching and waiting.
Are you talking about the time when Ewart Brown answered a parliamentary question, and said he had spent $265,000 on overseas travel in nine months? “A worthwhile investment for Bermuda”, he called it.
You think that’s the same as setting up a website itemizing every detail of every trip within a few days of it happening?
There is no such website only promises so far.
Yes, there is a website. It has been up and running for about a month.
Then you didn’t go to th eone in the link provided , click on the month of October and see the entry.
Give it a ******* rest damnit …. we have a different government now for that exact reason focus on THEM before history repeats itself.
Because it was all a LIE and a SHAM! Yet people are so brainwashed they still believe it to be a good thing..SMH!
If Mrs Atherden was accompanied by Mr. Monkman and Dr Trott then shouldn’t their expenses be included as well as they were obviously paid for with tax payers money.
Exactly! Just like how Dunkley travelled and didn’t list his entourage of 7 people.
At least when Ewart responded we got the amounts for everyone – this is just more OBA smoke and mirrors. Release ALL of the info!
No we didn’t get amounts for everyone.
If you are Independent then why are you using PLP phrase book.
Ah ok. If we got amounts detailed for every person that went, why don’t you point to where we can see how much it cost for each individual that went to China? And India? And New Orleans?
Because if you’re not completely full of sh.. that should be pretty easy for you, right?
What you fail to realize is that wasting public money hurts the average person irrespective of who is doing the wasting. Your ridiculous defence seems to be that it’s okay for the OBA to waste money as long as it’s not as much as the PLP.
I like you feel that there should be accountability for the PLP wasting public funds. However that same accountability must be demanded of the OBA as well and that is where we differ. Stop condemning wrong for one and not the other.
This country is in a serious situation and it is the average Bermudian who is paying for the bad decisions made by politicians from both parties.
It isn’t me that’s being ‘ridiculous’. The current government is telling us what they’re spending on Ministerial travel, itemised. What I’m pointing out is that this level of disclosure ever happened before. My question illustrates that ‘Independent Observer’ is, to put it kindly, mistaken about the level of disclosure that used to happen under Ewart.
If you think I’m wrong, prove it. Show us the detailed information that the previous government released.
I think its silly that the Government is only listing the Minister’s travel expenses and not everyone else who travels. Whats the point?!?!
Historically PLP ministers racked up a huge bill, the public asked for the ministers travel to be disclosed. The OBA agreed and now provide that.
Civil Servants are covered under their normal operations budget for that department.
Thank you for pointing out the obvious to all those that are blinded by their love of the plp!!! The other thing they seem to be blinded by is the fact that when you look at the price of the air fair, it is obvious also that they are flying cattle class, something the plp did NOT do, saw it for myself on many flights, also Dreb himself scoffed at the idea of traveling that way??? Yup the blind plper’s will never acknowledge the waistfulness of their plp!!!!
OBA gotta long way to travel to catch up the PLP.
But i really hope they are NOT trying to catch them up.
Larry I don’t think civil servants and political appointees are one in the same….are they?
Never said they were one and the same. The point is that it is very misleading to only list the Minister’s expenses and not those who accompanied her as this does not give an accurate account of what it actually cost the taxpayers.
The OBA is being very disingenuos by not disclosing the total amount these trips cost taxpayers and that is true transparency is it not? It is silly to accept only part of the bill as if that suffices. This insults the intelligence of Bermudians or at least most of us.
Larry Marshall. We now have transparency from Government about travel. Still, it’s not good enough for you. Grow up will you
So you want travel expenses and expense claims of every civil servant….
Wow, that would be some undertaking.
Why don’t you just get detailed expenditures of every cent spent by the civil service and time sheets.
Transparency? Only releasing the costs for one of three who went on the trip could not possibly be mis-conscrued as transparency.Just release the costs of the trip for all involved and then we can talk about transparency.
Maybe they’ve been busy sorting out other matters such as America’s Cup or something else and just haven’t gotten ALL the expensives verified and put through yet?! Glad you call them disingenous when even you or I don’t know the full truth yet. Let’s not jump to conclusions Laaarry!
We finally have a govt that is transparent and accountable and some still complain!