men have "no real power'' is dangerous and irresponsible, a UBP Senator said yesterday.

On a call-in television talk show on Monday night, and again in a telephone interview yesterday, Mr. Julian Hall said "no real power'' was wielded by the Premier, Senate President, Chief Justice or Police Commissioner.

Sen. Maxwell Burgess, who lost his House of Assembly seat to Mr. Hall in 1989, said he was concerned at "the suggestion that if someone works within the system and climbs to the top, he is either perceived as an Uncle Tom or has no real power''.

Mr. Hall, who like Mr. Burgess is black, stood by his statement but said he was attacking none of the office holders except the Premier, who he accused of "squandering'' his years in power by doing nothing to help blacks achieve equality.

"John Swan is a complete loss to the black community. He doesn't even understand what the black community needs now. He thinks that he has effected integration. It's not the kind of integration that any self-respecting black person would want.

"I don't just want the ability to work alongside a white person. I want mutual respect. I don't want the white community to think that they have the ability in their little private cabals to employ economic power for my destruction.'' Sen. Burgess said he agreed questions of institutionalised racism needed to be tackled.

"But I don't believe we are going to find the answers in suggesting that persons like the Commissioner of Police, the Premier, the President of the Senate and the Chief Justice have no real power.'' When blacks attained these posts "did the power suddenly evaporate?'' he asked.

What concerned him most, he said, "is that there will be young black guys out there who will say: I don't want to be like those guys ...Who do you look at for a role model?'' If comments like Mr. Hall's are believed "it's no wonder young black males are going astray .. . no wonder they work without the system.'' Sen. Burgess questioned Mr. Hall's sincerity. If Mr. Hall and the PLP "could persuade the majority, a large majority of blacks in this country that there's no hope with the system, then it serves their political end. But I ask at what price?'' Mr. Hall yesterday said the Premier lacked real power simply because he did not exercise it.

The Chief Justice lacks power because he must make his decisions on the laws passed elsewhere, he said, while the Senate Presidency is simply not a powerful position.

The new Police Commissioner Mr. Lennett (Lennie) Edwards, Mr. Hall said, was an unknown factor. "We don't know yet how much power he has.''