Mau Mau politrics-Xenophobia :PLP thumbs its nose at Democracy

Colonel Burch about Fahy: “All He Does is Whine”

April 8, 2010 by bernews · Leave a Comment 

During an appearance on today’s Everest Dacosta show Minister of Immigration Colonel David Burch addressed the dis-invitation of Michael Fahy to the meeting tomorrow, saying “all he does is whine“.

The controversy surrounds the meeting set for tomorrow night [Apr 8] at the Berkeley Institute to discuss term limits. Colonel Burch had sent out an email last month stating that only Bermudians who work in international business can attend, and ID must be shown to prove Bermudian status.

Michael Fahy is a corporate lawyer for an international business as well as the Chairman of the Bermuda Democratic Alliance [BDA]. Mr Fahy had revealed that following his RSVP to the meeting, Colonel Burch dis-invited him. You can read the full email trail here.

On todays radio talk show Colonel Burch addressed the issue saying:

This is not an opportunity to whine, but an opportunity to share relevant information about the industry and discuss viable solutions directly with me and my staff. All he does is whine. He had much to say in the media last week calling me xenophobic.

Mr Fahy had written a guest column for the Bermuda Sun recently, entitled “Xenophobia is contributing to our failing economy”. During a conversation we recently had with Mr Fahy, he mentioned the invitation was rescinded shortly after this piece was published, but was unsure whether it was directly correlated. Looking at the email trail, Mr Fahy RSVP’ed on March 16, this article was printed 10 days later on the 26th, and Colonel Burch dis-invited Mr Fahy 3 days later on the 29th.

An excerpt of the article follows below, read the full article on the Sun here:

The latest anti-Bermudian quotation attributed to Senator Burch is this: “It is a personal wish of mine that if you bring one foreign spouse and you divorce them, you can’t have another one.” This should be a cause of concern to all right-thinking Bermudians. Such a comment is so ignorant I can barely believe it has been uttered.

During the radio broadcast the Colonel went on to say:

My aim here is not to have a partisan drag down political fight, and that is why he is excluded. I am organising the meeting, so I get to decide who can and cannot come

We contacted Mr Fahy, and his reaction is below:

The Minister is trying to manufacture reasons why I and others with a legitimate right to attend cannot now attend. The Minister’s back peddling speaks for itself and is quite sad. If you read the emails they speak volumes as well.

I have made my point about my exclusion being a breach of human rights since it is clear the Minister has an issue with my opinion piece in the Bermuda Sun – it is clear my exclusion is due to my belief and political opinion in that article. The interesting point to note is that my article was not even dealing with term limits.

The Minister is clearly scrambling to justify his wrong actions and will fling mud at anyone who disagrees with him. That is hardly decent Ministerial conduct and his actions remain an affront to democracy.

Burch is having his "Bermudians only" meeting this Thursday to ask employees in the international business sector if they feel the term limits policy is damaging.

This despite the clear message from the employers in the international business sector that the policy is damaging.

There is a typical Bermuda shitfit as the Minister has banned some politicians (who work for international companies) from attending, saying:

My meeting – I get to decide who attends.

Oh gimme a break. Government's own statistics show the money from international business permeates our economy. It's not just the professionals who are affected. Every plumber, every taxi driver, every grocery store worker, all of us are dependent on the health of the international sector.

This attitude of "defiance and domination" typifies what's wrong with Bermuda. It's why our Government is such a mess. It sets the tone for the streets as well. And it leaves the international companies and their advisors wondering if they are dealing with a "stable and secure democracy" or a tinpot island ruled by 12 year olds.

UPDATE:

new law Ethnic cleansing  law targeting Bermudians who live with or are married to non-Bermudians 

$1,375 Licence Needed: Locals Married to Expats
must obtain licences costing $1,375.00. As per the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment Act 2007, people in default of this law could end up being imprisoned or fined a substantial amount.