NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The Progressive Liberal Party last night released payment details confirming it has funded the government’s recent trip to Bermuda.
In a statement, the party said: “The Progressive Liberal Party wishes to make public the payment from the party for the Prime Minister’s recent one-night trip to Bermuda. The Progressive Liberal Party will continue to share records of the reconciliation of additional associated costs and payments.”
A receipt indicating the reimbursement of travel funds to the Public Treasury, and a copy of the cheque for $24,750 were also released.
The trip came under scrutiny after it was unclear whether the government or the political party footed the bill.
At a press briefing last week, Communications Director Latrae Rahming said travel costs were covered by the PLP.
Foreign Affairs minister Fred Mitchell said over the weekend that the trip was made at the invitation of the Premier of Bermuda E David Burt, who is the leader of Bermuda’s Progressive Labour Party.
In a written statement, Mitchell maintained the travel was a ‘foreign affairs goodwill trip, not a political trip’.
It read: “The standard procedure is for most if not all flights of the Prime Minister to be arranged through the office of Prime Minister. When the settlement of expenses is done there is a reckoning between personal expenses and public expenses. That procedure was followed in this case and there is nothing unusual about it.”
Mitchell has declined further comment on the matter.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Michael Pintard accused the current administration of co-mingling, and calling for the government to release invoices and correspondents from the trip, in which a delegation of senior government officials and public officers traveled.
“They ought to lay on the table, the invoice is for this particular trip to show exactly who paid for it, because if it was a party even paid for by the party, is the party also paying for the civil servants that were on that trip? And if so, why?” Pintard said.
Pintard however raised a solution, expressing that the contradicting statements can be settled if the government is transparent about the communication surrounding the nature of the trip.
“[…]Was it for government officials to engage in conversations with our counterparts in Bermuda on matters that affect energy, transport, housing, climate, smart decisions, etc. We are unclear. Or was this a political organization working with its counterpart, its sister party in Bermuda?
“The correspondence between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or through the Prime Minister’s Office should be made public in terms of what the objectives are, because the truth is; the cost, who should pay for the cost, what is that cause is, and who should pay for it, is also driven by what the objective of the trip was. Clearly, the Chairman of the party says that this was a government, in other words, a state-driven trip.”
The Opposition Leader added that he has noticed that this is a consistent pattern with this administration, pointing at last year’s Christmas carnival, in the case of the National Insurance Board, and the recent Bahamas Power and Light increases as examples.
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