Statement by Dr Douglas DeCouto, Shadow Minister of Finance:
On 2 October , the One Bermuda Alliance tabled a motion in Parliament, requesting Premier Burt table all outstanding Annual Reports as required by section 9 of the Premier, Ministers and Opposition Leader Personal Staffs Act 2019.
Why do we need a motion asking the Premier to do what the law already requires? Because he has not done it.
The Staffs Act requires the Premier to report every year on the personal staff hired by the Premier, each Minister and the Opposition Leader: who they are, what they do, what they are paid, and whether they are political advisors or experts in a specific field. Each report is due by 31 May for the fiscal year just ended. It is a simple public account of how taxpayers’ money is spent on political staff.
The Premier has regularly failed to produce these reports. He was politely and discreetly informed in December 2025 that the reports were missing since December 2020, and still he did nothing.
Only after significant pressing in Parliament, including a proposed Motion of Censure, did he table the reports for 2023/24 and 2024/25 at the end of the Budget debate in March. The 2025/26 report followed on 29 May after further reminders.
The reports for 2020/21, 2021/22 and 2022/23 are still missing, and the Premier has repeatedly refused to provide them. Our motion puts each MP on the record: do you agree that the Premier must follow the law and produce these reports? And if he continues to break the law, what will you do about it?
If the Premier doesn’t have to follow the law, what should the rest of us think next time we get a traffic ticket, or a fine for late tax payments?
And why aren’t Cabinet Ministers and backbenchers speaking out? The Premier’s actions reflect upon all Government MPs, and their silence indicates their acceptance.
