AUDITOR General Larry Dennis has voiced strong concerns over the Progressive Labour Party's (PLP) proposal that the Public Service Commission should appoint future Auditors General on limited terms in an Independent Bermuda.

The idea was put forward by Government Senator Walter Roban in the PLP's presentation to the Bermuda Independence Commission, published on the BIC web site.

But Mr. Dennis said the idea of a limited term, if it were less than 15 years, would deter the most capable applicants for the job of vetting Government finances.

An Auditor appointed by a Government body would be compromised, said Mr. Dennis, and that would not be in the public interest.

To be effective in the role, an Auditor needed independence from Government and time in the job, he added.

"This does not affect me at all, but I will fight for my successor," said Mr. Dennis, who is within a few years of retiring from the post he has held for some 25 years.

"The Bermuda Constitution says that the Auditor General audits the Public Service Commission. If that is the body that appoints him, then how is he going to be able to do his job independently?

"Stopping any kind of benefits for the Auditor General always sounds good to a government, but is less interesting to an Opposition.

"Someone pointed out to me that the PLP platform commits the Party to the enhancement of the Office of the Auditor General. I would like to ask Sen. Roban how his proposal fits in with that."

Mr. Dennis' job is to audit Government financial statements and to make recommendations aimed at giving the public better value for its money.

Appointed by the Governor, he is a Crown Officer and independent of Government, and there is no time limit on his term in office. His position is enshrined in the Constitution.

The current Government has fiercely criticised Mr. Dennis in the past, particularly in the wake of his special report on the Berkeley project, the construction of the Second Senior School that is already two years late and tens of millions of dollars over budget.

Premier Alex Scott has publicly mooted the idea of limited terms for the Auditor, while Government MP Derrick Burgess suggested that Mr. Dennis' thinking was affected by racial prejudice.

For the Auditor General to be expected to continue doing his job under such pressure while on a limited term and facing reappointment by Government would be a lot to ask of anyone, Mr. Dennis said.

Canada is one country with limited terms for its Auditor General and Mr. Dennis explained what he believed were the drawbacks of its system.

"In Canada, I believe the term is six years and it can be renewed once. Six years is too short a time for an Auditor General to make a difference or to get any traction," Mr. Dennis said.

"If he gets some traction in the first four years, there could be some slippage in the last two years, particularly if he is auditing the people who will be deciding whether to reappoint him.

"In that situation, he might pull a couple of punches that he would not have pulled if he had a longer term.

"For Bermuda, I think a limited term for the Auditor General is the wrong way to go. What the Government is really saying when they do that is that they want to control this individual to some degree.

"In the US, the Auditor General's term is 15 years and is not renewable and I think that could be do-able, as far as Bermuda is concerned."

Good potential candidates would be put off by a short term, Mr. Dennis said.

"If you have an Auditor General who finishes at a relatively young age, he knows he will have to find work in the private sector again," Mr. Dennis said. "But Bermuda's very small. Where's he going to go?"

Instead, the limited terms might prove more attractive to professionals who had come to the end of a private sector career and who had a desire to give something back to the community, he added.

Mr. Dennis said that some countries who used limited terms for Auditors were now having second thoughts, because they were losing people who had performed well in the job.

In his presentation to BIC on behalf of the PLP, Sen. Roban said: "The Public Service Commission will have some responsibility of his (the Auditor General's) appointment and we believe this should be a term of office for the Auditor General, not unlimited."