The One Bermuda Alliance’s decision to appoint a former civil servant as a media consultant has been condemned by the Opposition.

Magnus Henagulph was taken on by the ruling party last week after quitting his post at the Department of Communications and Information in July.

Mr Henagulph made headlines a year ago when he won an award for submitting a list of cost-cutting measures to the Savings and Government Efficiency Commission.

But in a statement yesterday the Progressive Labour Party said the new appointment demonstrated that the OBA “would rather hide behind paid bloggers and consultants than show their faces”.

In its statement, the PLP also accused Mr Henagulph of “throwing his Government colleagues under the bus” when he made his recommendations to the SAGE Commission, and that he had been hired “as a paid author of division” for the OBA.

“It is interesting that the civil servant, who won thousands of dollars for throwing his Government colleagues under the bus in an error-filled submission to the SAGE Commission, has now been hired by Premier Dunkley as a paid author of division for the One Bermuda Alliance,” the party said in a statement.

“It seems that OBA members would rather hide behind paid bloggers and consultants than show their faces, stand in front of the people and speak truthfully.”

Referring to an article published in yesterday’s Royal Gazette, the statement went on: “Mr Henagulph in his haste to please his new bosses, penned an editorial attacking Dr [Ewart] Brown but failed to address the points raised by [the] former Premier.

“Being unable or unwilling to address legitimate criticism is a recurring pattern with the OBA that their new consultant has seemingly taken to new depths. The OBA fails to recognise that their efforts to tarnish the reputations of Bermudians who stand against Premier Dunkley and the OBA’s anti-Bermudians agenda are overshadowed by their lack of transparency and their daily efforts to build a Bermuda that works for everyone but Bermudians.”

Although yesterday’s statement claimed that Mr Henagulph’s recommendations had been “filled” with errors, his efforts had previously been praised by the PLP’s Finance spokesman David Burt.

After reviewing Mr Henagulph’s 20-page catalogue of cash-saving ideas, Mr Burt did point out one factual error relating to a contract that his own company, GMD Consulting, had with Government.

But he added that much of Mr Henagulph’s ideas were “spot on” and that he should be “commended overall”.

• On occasion The Royal Gazette may decide to not allow comments on what we consider to be a controversial or contentious story. As we are legally liable for any defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.