JERSEY’s MR NOBODY

Readers will know that OUR government is clamping down on “The Voice” and others who might want to record and publish the proceedings of Scrutiny Panels and similar supposedly public meetings.

We aren’t therefore allowed to show you what actually happened at some recent meetings but we can understand why our government doesn’t want you to see or hear. They must be so ashamed of themselves. Their incompetence is so great. Their contempt for the public is just simply so enormous.

Today it was a special PAC Scrutiny panel meeting called to hear our Chief Minister explain about his role in the Incinerator Funding Joke. You know – the one about the agreement that everybody knew of to take account of currency fluctuations when signing the huge contract with the French builder – but NOBODY was responsible to actually do it.

So it’s pass the accountability parcel time again and it turns out that NOBODY is to blame and even if there was a culprit the matter has been dealt with in accordance with internal procedures and it is NO BUSINESS of the public.

Once again, a whole roomful of expensive civil servants and our so called elected representatives sat around talking politely amongst themselves and ate the sandwich buffet provided – but WE the paying public have discovered nothing except that the whole process is a total waste of time and expense and that this kind of SCRUTINY process will discover absolutely nothing at all.

WHERE oh WHERE is the desire to uncover the facts? The Chief Minister was a bumbling schoolboy and his Chief Officer was just simply not tested – talk about being savaged by a dead sheep!! Senator Breckon and Chris Swinson “the Comptroller and Auditor General” did not even speak at all – why were they there? Haven’t they got any real work to do?

Yet last week we heard the Education Minister and his Chief and Assistant Chief Officers actually threaten to walk out of their quarterly Scrutiny meeting if the Panel pressed any questions to do with Haut de la Garenne or Staff Disciplinary matters!!!!! So Deputy Le Herissier and his limp team of public scrutinizers simply backed down and found some other more polite questions to ask instead.

Once again the cosy relationship was maintained and no useful information was discovered except that the SCRUTINY process is a total farce and NOBODY can be called to account but the sandwiches were devoured eagerly as usual.






And that very afternoon it was the turn of that oh so new and nice soft talking Senator Le Marquand and his quarterly Home Affairs Scrutiny examination before the very same Panel - and Lo and Behold it is still a total mystery who instigated or researched OPERATION BLAST and NOBODY knows who it was - and if is left to this bunch of clueless Closeaux we never shall!!!

Just how much longer can this ridiculous procedure be allowed to continue? What a waste of time it is and how many £ millions are wasted each year in occupying so many hours of civil servants’ and politicians’ time.

And how significant it is that the general public shows virtually no interest in the proceedings at all and the public seats remain empty - but when a few bloggers like US do show an interest and try to publish something via CITIZENS MEDIA on the WEB. – our pathetic government reaches for the PANIC button and seeks to legislate to STOP US!!!!!!

AND they say that they want to ENGAGE with the public!!!!!!!!

Submitted by Thomas Wellard.