Political commentator Rolfe Commissiong has come out in defence of Auditor General Larry Dennis - and said racial allegations against him were from the old Bermuda, not the new.

The Progressive Labour Party maverick described the events of the last week, since the Auditor released his special report on the progress of the new secondary school site, as "rather bizarre".

"After all, the Auditor General was just doing his job," said Mr. Commissiong.

"As far as I'm concerned, the integrity of the Auditor General, particularly this Auditor General, is unimpeachable. He has demonstrated over and over again for at least a decade that he calls it as he sees it.

"There are many times when my party was in Opposition, and I played a more prominent role, when we viewed some of the reports from Mr. Dennis' office as political manna from heaven.

"More often than not, it would allow us to advance our political agendas".

Mr. Commissiong said he had been surprised by the reactions from Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott and president of the Bermuda Industrial Union Derrick Burgess to the report.

He added: "I think that some people are not willing to face the truth or criticism. When the truth is presented, they are not willing to confront it in a positive way.

"The (racial) allegations that Mr. Burgess made gave me great cause for concern. As someone who has been trying to foster positive and beneficial discussion on the topic of race, I feel that the allegations by Mr. Burgess can only prove to be counter-productive, resulting in further polarisation of our two communities."

Mr. Commissiong said everyone had to learn to take criticism better.

He added: "I would hope that people who feel aggrieved by his report will really look in the mirror, rather than shoot the messenger.

"We can't take criticism and thus we end up attacking the messenger, rather than the message. Ironically, coming from these two, (what they said) was so old Bermuda. I think if we are going to create a new Bermuda, we have to put aside the old habits.

"I always believe that honesty is the best policy."

Mr. Commissiong said he hoped other people who supported the auditor would come out and publicly say so.

But he said he could not understand why Government had not offered the general contractor of Berkeley, Pro-Active Management Systems Ltd, a mobilisation fee to help it get up and running.

That would have solved many of the alleged cash-flow problems of Pro-Active, he said, and would have been quite normal.

Last night, Works Minister Mr. Scott said while he agreed with Mr. Commissiong that Government should learn from audit reports and should use them positively, he could not agree on all points he made.

Said Mr. Scott: "... as ministers are required to meet professional standards, so should the Auditor. As we are required to be as pure as Caesar's wife, so should the auditor. If questions can be asked about myself, because we are in a democracy, questions should be asked of the Auditor. He should not be somebody that we can't publicly discuss."