Opinion: Do We Really Trust Each Other? No!

[Opinion column written by Erwin P. Adderley and David J. Tavares]

The late Sir John Cox, the last Colonial Speaker of Parliament, in his unprecedented speech on his views on Party politics, noted, “We are too small a community to be riven by Party strife, with all the animosities which this engenders”

Many of you would argue, or blame our problems 65 years ago, and to some extent today, on the oligarchy way of life and policies, which the then Speaker was a part of, put most Bermudians at an enormous disadvantage, politically, socially and economically. But let us put this aside for the moment so we can move on from here.

As one of the signatories to one of the Minority Reports on the Constitutional Conference in 1966 the late Sir John Cox noted: “We are unable to subscribe to Appendix A of the Summary of Provisions of Constitution, for the reason that the summary of provisions of the new constitution therein set out omits or destroys certain fundamental checks or safeguards which, in our view, are vital if good government is to be maintained”.

Both signatories of their Report were opposed to the power given to the Government Leader. Suggestions were made back then, to give more power to the Legislative Council, now the Senate, but since then the [Government Leader] Premier’s power has increased.

Judging for the debates in the House of Assembly, do we really trust each other? No!

Our system of Government is a bicameral parliamentary legislature which simply refers to a particular body of government that consists of two legislative houses or chambers. In our case our system includes two parliamentary chambers [House of Assembly and Senate].

The overall purpose behind our parliamentary legislative system is to provide for representation for the people of our small island home.

Now, there are those who say there is nothing wrong with our Westminster system of Government, and conventional wisdom is that if we change our system, we would never get anything done.

There are two arguments over the function and purpose of a legislative body. One would argue that giving the Senate more power would create deadlocks or stalemates to pass important legislature.

The other side of the argument is that effective checks and balances are needed to prevent legislation being enacted into law that would unfavourably affect certain groups and people in the community.

We have read and heard on radio talk show that blaming the system of Government is not the problem and we agree. However, we need political and constitutional reforms to stop this madness of political party partisanship from destroying our island home irrevocably being damaged, politically, socially and economically, if we really want real sustainability for all.

Clearly the response of Government on the Public Accounts Committee meeting is yet another failed promise of the OBA to bring sunshine on transparency. If you were told your cheque is in the mail, you would expect to receive it!

Never before have we felt or seen our island home more divided as Bermudians — a house divided will not stand. If your foundation is weak you are not sustainable enough to withstand the forces of nature.

If you believe committing adultery once is not as bad as doing it again, and again, and again, then, “Huston, we have a problem”!

We call on the people of Bermuda to rally around the need for reform at all levels of Government — starting with our Constitution to provide meaningful checks and balances and greatly reduce the Government Leader’s powers, and rebuild from the ground up thereby strengthening our foundation for a sustainable future for all of Bermuda’s residents.

- Erwin P. Adderley and David J. Tavares

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