Incompetence, and worse

The PLP's claims to be competent managers of Bermuda's economy are looking mighty thin in the wake of the Bermuda Cement Company (BCC) fiasco.

It's hard to imagine a better example of ineptitude than the Government's need to resort to an emergency nationalisation because of their failure to ensure a smooth transition from BCC to a new operator. That they have allowed this to happen just three weeks away from a general election is incredible.

If this were the extent of the Government's mismanagement it would be bad enough. But by hinting that the contract to run the cement works will not be put out to tender, and that the new operator may not be obliged to relocate the site (as BCC was), the Government's behaviour risks going beyond simple incompetence into the realms of the unethical and the corrupt.

Establishing an open, competitive tendering process, with clearly defined requirements, is the only way the Government can salvage any credibility from this mess.