• The following Op-Ed was published on Facebook on July 6, 2020 by lawyer Charles Richardson…
Photo Courtesy of TNN

Sometimes when you give people an inch, they can’t help but to take a mile. Our two recently abdicated Ministers unfortunately overlooked that.

I am sure that when approval was granted for that event they did not envisage that it would “turn up” like that. And that’s an oversight, but that is not the critical point.

The critical point came when that party clearly got out of hand (I saw several videos and at first thought it was TBT) and both ministers remained in attendance and did not intervene to dissipate it. And then it was all captured on video.

Under normal circumstances there would not be an issue.

But when you are the Ministers in charge of implementing all of the onerous, restrictive, harsh, and regimented measures we have adopted to combat COVID-19, your presence in the midst of a soirée of epoch proportions – whilst the rest of us have had to watch our children graduate, have birthday parties and funerals for our loved ones under the most draconian of deprivations – it hit like a ringing slap to see a selected segment of society ‘living their best lives ‘for a so called charity event that raised a mere $10k.

I would have paid that $10k myself to be able to see the lost chances at sharing key moments in peoples lives preserved for them to enjoy….some of these kids worked their asses off to graduate and had to hang their heads out of cars and buses to memorialize the moment – but you two could not see the contradiction in that??!!

I bet Mr Burt lost sleep over that decision. I certainly would have. But he had no choice. The old timers used to say “if there is one rule you don’t break, that’s the one you don’t break”. It is a decison that speaks of pure leadership.

You might feel sorry for them, but you can’t defend that type of wilful blindness. It’s hypocrisy at a time when we need uncompromised guidance.

If ever there was a mixed message this was it. The Premier had no choice. It was not an easy choice I am sure. Both Ministers are very capable people. But this was a “brain fart” for sure…..and it stunk bad🥺…..so bad the Premier had to open the window and let the fumes escape gracefully.

I respect both Minsters as servants of the public and men in thier own rights, but I also understand that leadership sometimes means making hard decisions like this, when good people unfortunatley make bad decisons like that.