Despite ex-premier Bush’s claims, just before he was removed, the government’s coffers were in a much better shape now than when he was thrust into power; this has proved to be far from the truth.

It is extraordinary for an open government policy Bush has always campaigned on but never delivered, even his own supporters haven’t turned on him.

It is common for governments to refinance the public debt and to do it openly through the recognised official tendering processes. The reason is because one is dealing with big monies and the open processes are there to protect government ministers from being accused of corruption. They are there so we can all see we have received the best deal we can get.

So why did our ex-premier, in his position as finance minister, refuse to tender the public refinancing?

Didn’t his government colleagues ever ask him why?

The bullet bond-type loan borrowing or balloon payments as they are also called: The definition of ‘bullet repayments’ on the Investopedia website is:

“When a person has a five-year mortgage which is paid off in a lump sum at the end of the five-year term, this payment is considered a bullet repayment. Generally, the borrower only pays interest during this time, while the principal balance of the loan is due at the end of the term.

“For large loan amounts, such as mortgage loans, refinancing is usually required in order to pay the entire bullet repayment amount.”

And this is what we have to do now. Worse we have a $260M bond payment due in 2019.

Our new premier, Alden McLaughlin, has said his government’s next priority will be to refinance the public debt and it will be executed by open tender to ensure transparency and he will not be using the bullet loan payment form of borrowing. He is proposing to set up a sinking fund to repay the principal debt.

A sinking fund “is a method by which an organisation sets aside money over time to retire its indebtedness. More specifically, it is a fund into which money can be deposited, so that over time preferred stock, debentures or stocks can be retired. Sinking funds can also be used to set aside money for purposes of replacing capital equipment as it becomes obsolete.” From Wikipedia.

The previous acts by Bush to go on his own merry way to secure loans has cost the public purse $450,000 in fees [the Cohen and Co. debacle] but even after this it is now revealed he never learnt his lesson from that. Just before he was removed he once again tried to repackage the national debt through Caledonian Bank without the process of open tendering.

I again ask why? He knew the rules. Has this also cost the public purse thousands of dollars?

So with bullets waiting to be fired and a cannon waiting to boom, it is some relief we would seem to have a level headed master at arms who not only knows the rules but is intent on obeying them.