Opposition leader Wayne Furbert has accused Premier Ewart Brown of trying to scapegoat the civil service for the PLP Government’s own failure to lead. The claim follows the Premier’s comments that some civil servants were thwarting the Government’s programme and should leave.

The Premier is to meet with members of the civil service later this month for crunch talks. Premier Brown had said: “There are some excellent civil servants in Bermuda and there are some who are not buying in to this Government’s programme or who are taking steps to retard it.

“We are going to convince them to find employment elsewhere. I will be asking them to make it clear to us who wants to work and who doesn’t.”

Opposition leader Wayne Furbert said it was extraordinary that a Premier of Bermuda had to meet with senior civil servants over concerns about their work ethic, their neutrality and even their apathy.

He told The Royal Gazette: “<$>Based on our own experience, we find it hard to believe that there has been some kind of performance breakdown across the civil service — as implied by the Premier.”

The real problem was a failure of leadership by PLP Cabinet ministers who had not given a clear direction on sound policies, said Mr. Furbert.

“We do not believe the PLP Government has yet figured out how to govern effectively or that it has even defined what the public interest is in any given area.”

He said Dr. Brown’s formation of a council of economic advisors whose first order of business is to study issues such as affordable housing was a prime example.

“When one considers that affordable housing has been one of the biggest public concerns since the PLP came to power eight years ago, we can’t help but think that this Government has no clue, no idea about what it is doing.

“We are very concerned the Premier is trying to make civil servants the scapegoat for the government’s failure to govern effectively.

“Reading the riot act to civil servants as though they are the ones responsible for the government’s poor performance is a good way to lay the blame onto others and, incidentally, to separate his government from that of his predecessor — something he is determined to do.

“But we see the Premier as an integral part of the PLP’s record in office. He has had a seat at the Cabinet table since 1998 and was Deputy Premier in the Scott Government, for which Dr. Brown famously gave a failing grade during his leadership challenge.”

Mr. Furbert said the planned meeting between Dr. Brown and civil servants also raised a warning flag.

“One of the pillars of good government is the maintenance of an independent, non-partisan civil service to carry out the policies of the government of the day.

“Dr. Brown appears to want to have only believers in the PLP programme working in the civil service, and we can’t help but think he wants to test civil servants for their political loyalties.”

Such an approach was fundamentally at odds with the United Bermuda Party approach to government said Mr. Furbert.

“We want an independent civil service and we believe it should be protected. That is why we call for a Whistleblowers Act to protect the right of public officials to speak up about government misdeeds without fear of retaliation.”

The Bermuda Public Services Union, which represents around 2,000 civil servants, agreed they had to be loyal to the Government of the day.

But a statement pointed out its members were covered by numerous laws protecting against any unfair labour practices while Labour Minister Derrick Burgess was also there to make sure workers were treated fairly if Government tries to force some civil servants out.

BPSU general secretary Ed Ball said: “We endorse the philosophy of productivity, accountability and striving for worker excellence.”

And he said employers should be encouraged to introduce and maintain training and succession planning.

He added the union strongly encouraged annual performance appraisals to monitor worker development.

Last night the Premier issued a one-line statement in response to Mr. Furbert’s comments.

He said: “As usual the leader of the Opposition is grossly under-informed.”