Leaked British Report Says Bermuda 'Over-Governed'

Tax-news.com

18 January 2000

The Bermuda press revealed last week that a controversial leaked report has concluded that Bermuda is 'over-governed'. The report recommends a number of changes to the way Bermuda is governed, including slashing the number of cabinet ministers and re-drawing political boundaries in single seat constituencies. It also suggested that the overall number of MPs should also be drastically cut from the current level of 40 members.

The report, commissioned as a 'Civil Service Review', was prepared by British Civil Service College consultants Mike Fogden and Chris Cooper, who have stressed that it is still in the draft stage and consultation with stakeholders still needs to take place before it is officially published.

The main recommendation of the report was that Bermuda's Cabinet should be cut from the present 13 part-time Ministers to just eight full-time Ministers with broader responsibilities, backed by a more powerful cabinet office. It also suggested that the shift to full-time cabinet ministers could be cost neutral if the number of MPs were reduced by nearly half to offset the increased cost of paying full-time salaries to ministers. The report also said that the current system of part time ministers was not working to anyone's satisfaction and was overdue for change.

Bermuda Premier Jennifer Smith was furious over the leak and refused to comment about the report's recommendations. Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon was not so reticent, saying that the Premier could reform the cabinet under the existing constitution and accusing her of "empire building" instead. She also noted that her party's views had not been heard by the report's authors who had cancelled meetings with the opposition on three separate occasions.

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