A host of "improper'' Government moves threaten to embarrass Bermuda and make the world consider it a "banana republic'', a top Opposition Senator warned yesterday.

And Premier Jennifer Smith and her Progressive Labour Party's actions could scare key players in the lucrative international business and tourism industries away from the Island, said Opposition Senate Leader Maxwell Burgess.

But Government Senate Leader Milton Scott said Ms Smith was better than former Premier Pamela Gordon who "couldn't bring home the bacon'' on vital international issues like the OECD clampdown or the US base clean-up.

And he said it was the former UBP Government which had the most "skeletons in the cupboard with jobs for the good old boys''.

The clash started when Sen. Burgess said that in less than 100 days in power the new Government had already been dogged by allegations of sham political appointments.

He said reports in The Royal Gazette since the November 9 election had revealed several "improper'' moves by the new Government.

They included the sacking of the Premier's driver, the hiring of another PA for the Premier, a rift in the Cabinet Office and plans to hire an extra three top civil servants -- despite promises to slash the number of bureaucrats.

He said he was further horrified to hear that Ms Smith was considering appointing an "old mate'' as a Government consultant.

But the most "sobering act'' was the recent clash between the Premier and the Governor over Ms Smith's wish to sack the Public Services Commission to appoint more-PLP-friendly members.

He said the Constitution clearly stated the Governor must decide who to appoint to the PSC, they should sit for three to five years and the Governor could only sack them if he considered they acted improperly.

"The PSC must be distinct and separate from the politicians of the hour and the politics of the day,'' he said.

"There's no point in going overseas and making a lot of lovely speeches then coming back here and conducting business banana republic style.

Senate Report: Page 6 UBP: Keep PSC independent "Bermuda has a very competent capable Civil Service who serve this country well, often over and beyond the call of duty, and they must be protected as the constitution states by a completely independent board.'' "Until now our politics have had the reputation in tourism and international business of rising above this kind of unstable third world standard.

"We can't let them start thinking we're going down that road now or else businesses will soon wonder how they can operate in this political climate because they always have to wonder what the Government is going to do next.

"With headline after headline like this, it's only a matter of time before we wake up one day and see we don't have tourism and we don't have offshore business and what we do have is a banana republic.'' His comments were backed up by Independent Sen. Jeanette Cannonier -- who served on the PSC for 20 years including almost 15 years as its chairperson.

She warned Bermuda "could be in for some serious problems in the Civil Service''.

And the people involved should "take a long hard look at the Constitution'' which clearly removed the PSC from any possible political interference.

But Sen. Scott said rather than becoming an international joke, the new Premier would satisfactorily resolve issues that had been allowed to fester under the past regime.

He said the impending Budget would reveal more of the UBP's failures.

And the rules of appointing and sacking boards were "open to consideration'', particularly when he felt "overwhelming support from 80 to 85 percent of the population'' for the PLP to have more input into the PSC.

But he refused to fully defend the Premier's actions and said he would rather let her do that herself when she returned from her trip abroad.