HAMILTON, Bermuda, The Bermuda government has blamed a “glitch” for lengthy delays in disclosing costs on overseas trips by the Premier and his fellow cabinet ministers.
Home Affairs Minister Walter Roban, Deputy Premier, claimed that “technical difficulties” meant his trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), a sister British Overseas Territory, in April, which cost more than US$10,000, had not been detailed yet.
The cost of a visit to Lisbon by Roban in June and overseas journeys by Premier David Burt to Prague, Brussels, and London in September have still not been disclosed despite the government pledging that such information would be “continuously updated” on the ministerial travel calendar.
The opposition One Bermuda Alliance (OBA) has expressed alarm at the lack of transparency regarding the costs of overseas visits.
“I understand that the lack of information that you may find … it was due to some technical challenges which I believe have been fixed,” Roban told a news conference.
“If you check, you should find more up-to-date information in the future — but it had to do with a technical glitch, not because there is a lack of interest in disclosing. I know I file every piece of receipt and everything to do with my trips as soon as I return, and they get processed by those who process them,” he told reporters Wednesday.
If he was concerned that the “glitch” on the government website had gone unnoticed for more than seven months, Roban said, “I cannot speak to that. Any questions about the Premier’s travel should be put to the Cabinet Office.”
Questioned if the Deputy Premier’s visit to TCI was good value for money for the taxpayer, Roban said: “It is because I went there to represent Bermuda.
“The TCI government invited me to speak to them about Bermuda and the leadership we provide to the Overseas Territories around all ocean matters.
“It was about us working together … to advance the issues of ocean communities, including protecting our biodiversity. I am proud to have participated on behalf of my country, and I will continue to do so as long as I’m allowed.”
When the travel calendar was revamped in October 2017, three months after the Progressive Labour Party ousted the OBA from power, the government promised it would give rapid insight into how ministers were spending public money. At the re-launch,
Lovitt Foggo, the then Cabinet Office minister, said: “I am pleased to reintroduce the ministers’ travel expenses page on the government website. The new page contains current ahistoricalric information and will be continuously updated as ministers travel overseas.
“I am committed to full transparency, and this page will detail the location and reason for a minister’s international travel together with how much they spent whitravelinging.”
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