Civil servants were indeed part of the problem at the second senior secondary school construction site, Government backbenchers claimed in the House of Assembly on Friday night.

In doing so, backbenchers Glenn Blakeney and Derrick Burgess contradicted the words of Premier Alex Scott and Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent ? both of whom defended civil servants in the days after contractors Pro-Active Management Systems were terminated.

?This civil service is invested in this country and the only permanent Government,? Mr. Blakeney said during a debate on a take note motion of Government?s management of the construction project.

However, he wondered, what happens if those in that position of responsibility ?may not be loyal to the Government of the day?, or if the contractor they thought should have gotten the job did not? ?What would happen??

For fear of losing their jobs, civil servants may not hinder the project, he said ? but they may not help it either.

Mr. Burgess, a backbencher and president of the Bermuda Industrial Union, went one step further, saying that at a meeting in May the question was asked if anyone in Works and Engineering had impeded the progress of the project.

The answer, he said, was yes ? and that civil servant is no longer with Works and Engineering. When members of the Opposition queried who, Mr. Burgess replied: ?You?ll know in due time?.

?Nobody in Works and Engineering has experience working a project of this size,? and fireproofing in the school did not go right up to the ceiling ?because of Works and Engineering?, he added.

However in statements to the Press in the days after Pro-Active was terminated, both Premier Alex Scott and Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent vigorously defended the civil service.

At a Press conference on September 2, Mr. Scott, who was Works Minister when the contract was awarded, reported that Pro-Active had complained that civil servants sabotaged them almost from the start of the Berkeley project.

He investigated and found no truth to the allegations, he said.

?I have had those complaints continually ... They were judicious and in actual fact in the early days they were very, very supportive. The esprit de corps was as high as Pro-Active.

Mr. DeVent said he had had no formal complaints but had heard reports, contradicting Pro-Active?s later statements that many of the complaints were made in writing to the Premier and other Ministers, and private assurances were made that they would be dealt with.

Civil servants had not refused any of his instructions, Mr. DeVent said.

Asked about the experience of other Cabinet Ministers at the Press conference on September 2, Mr. Scott diplomatically acknowledged that there had been some problems.

?Ministers, in a moment of candour, have said that things could be better,? he said.

It is a matter of public record that the civil servants recommended a firm other than Pro-Active Management Ltd. to be awarded the contract, favouring Somers Construction. Government overruled the civil servants when it awarded the contract to Pro-Active Management.

?We know the degree to which the project has been stymied by various civil servants,? legal counsel for Pro-Active Julian Hall complained in the days after the termination.

?The question has to be asked, who governs Bermuda? Because it became increasingly clear to Pro-Active that the Government of Bermuda does not govern Bermuda.

?I put it no higher than that ? I don?t care what the Premier has to say in response to it. Or what the Minister has to say.

?If they feel it is their duty to protect people who are trying to destroy their own Government, that?s their problem.?