Zane DeSilva’s latest broadside against the One Bermuda Alliance, cloaked in hollow indignation and political amnesia, is nothing short of audacious. To watch the deputy leader of a party mired in scandal, mismanagement and open ethical rot wag his finger at anyone else’s “values” would be comedic were it not so contemptuous of the public’s intelligence.

Let’s be very clear: before the Progressive Labour Party demands answers from anyone, it needs to answer for itself.

Mr DeSilva has the gall to lecture about policies that “reduce opportunity for Bermudians” while he himself is at the centre of a financial scandal that saw $800,000 in public funds vanish into a failed entertainment company — Savvy Entertainment — only to reappear in chunks in his personal bank account. Bank records, court filings and even his own e-mails confirm he received at least $100,000 in returned payments after facilitating a loan while sitting in Cabinet. This alone, in any serious jurisdiction, would be career-ending.

In Bermuda, it earns you a promotion to deputy leader.

And let’s not forget: $60,000 of taxpayer funds remain unaccounted for. No admission of wrongdoing. No apology. Just chest-puffing sanctimony from Mr DeSilva aimed at others.

Mr DeSilva wants to talk about “values”? The values of secret personal loans while directing public funds? Of failing to declare conflicts of interest? Of public silence after a full-blown police investigation that led to formal money-laundering charges (later dropped, but damning nonetheless)? Spare us.

According to the Auditor-General of Bermuda, the PLP government presided over deeply flawed procurement practices during the pandemic. One particularly galling example: the Government spent $1.3 million on an online scheduling software solution for Covid testing and vaccinations — without an open tender, without sufficient documentation and without confirming value for money. The Auditor-General explicitly noted that these practices did not comply with financial instructions and exposed taxpayers to unnecessary risk. That is not crisis management. That is incompetence bordering on abuse.

Mr DeSilva wants to talk about “harmful decisions”?

Let’s revisit some PLP hits: a same-sex marriage policy flip-flop that cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands in court fees and international embarrassment. A ballooning public sector that has produced record debt and declining services. Infrastructure decay. Youth unemployment. Deteriorating public education. Stagnant wages. A shrinking middle class. How exactly do these promote “opportunity for Bermudians”?

The PLP, in office for 24 of the past 26 years, now pretends that Bermuda’s problems were born during the OBA’s brief stint in power. It’s laughable. Mr DeSilva refers to scholarship cuts, pension delays and childcare reductions, conveniently omitting the context — an economy on the brink of collapse after years of PLP overspending, a global recession and an unsustainable Civil Service wage bill. The OBA made difficult decisions to stabilise the economy — decisions which, though unpopular, helped to rescue Bermuda’s credit rating and laid the groundwork for recovery.

What has the PLP done with that recovery? It squandered it ... on favours, handouts and partisan propaganda. Not investment. Not reform. Not hope.

So when Zane DeSilva says “the OBA must answer for its record,” here’s our reply:

We will answer for our record when you answer for the missing $800,000. For the planning override scandal. For the undeclared debts. For the pension secrecy. For the donor opacity. For the Auditor-General’s report detailing gross procurement failures. For the ministerial resignations and backdoor appointments. For the cronyism. For the lack of accountability and the erosion of public trust that the PLP has become synonymous with.

Until then, the Progressive Labour Party should spare the country its hollow sermons about values. Because values without integrity are just slogans — and no amount of finger-pointing can disguise the rot within your own ranks.

Bermuda deserves better. And no amount of moral theatre from Zane DeSilva will distract us from that fact.

• Robert King is the Shadow Minister of National Security and the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation, and the MP for Smith’s North (Constituency 10)