Opposition leader Jarion Richardson accused the Progressive Labour Party government yesterday of using civil servants to “shield” elected officials.

Mr Richardson claimed it was “unconstitutional” for a public affairs officer at the Department of Communications to have publicly defended the renewal by David Burt, the Premier, of a parliamentary motion concerning the Commission of Inquiry into Historical Land Losses.

“When we allow civil servants to speak for politicians, we chip away at the very foundations of good governance,” Mr Richardson said, adding that a fundamental tenet of the Westminster system of government had been breached.

“In a democracy, it is ministers and Members of Parliament who defend political motions, because it is they who answer to the people.

“When a civil servant is put forward to justify a debate in the House [of Assembly], we cross the line from administrative support to political advocacy. That is not just inappropriate, it is unconstitutional.”

Mr Richardson’s comments came after litigants involved in legal cases concerning the CoI accused the Premier of “jumping the gun” by renewing the parliamentary motion, thereby enabling MPs to debate the commission’s report, while their matters were continuing.

Mr Burt did not personally respond to the criticism, but a government spokeswoman told The Royal Gazette that MPs should be able to debate the motion, several years after the commission ended and produced its report, even if a “potential substantive issue” in the litigation was still to be resolved.

Mr Richardson, in a statement, took issue with the Government “permitting a civil servant to publicly defend the timing and tabling of a parliamentary motion relating to historic land losses”.

He accused it of “outsourcing accountability, while invoking bureaucratic voices to shield elected officials from answering publicly for their decisions”.

The One Bermuda Alliance leader added: “This is not a technical error.

“It’s a breach of the very principles it campaigned on and it places our public servants in untenable positions, expected to speak on behalf of decisions they neither made nor can defend.”

Mr Richardson said: “Let the ministers defend their decisions. Let the politicians debate their motions. And let civil servants do the vital, non-political work of supporting this country.

“If the Government can’t make that distinction, then it isn’t fit to govern.”

The Premier was asked for comment for this report.