Smith to clear up any confusion over the pyramid scheme issue is timely.

This week, former Crown counsel Peter Eccles revealed that one of the reasons he left Government service was because he felt political influence was being brought to bear on prosecutions.

A case in point was the pyramid scheme controversy, when Attorney General Dame Lois Browne Evans said she was going to "crack the law books'' to determine whether or not the schemes were illegal.

She made the announcement after then-Acting Director of Public Prosecutions William Pearce had already given the Police an opinion that the schemes were illegal.

Mr. Barritt then, rightly, criticised Dame Lois for her move, which was apparently at the behest of the Premier. Dame Lois, then reversed herself.

This week, Mr. Barritt revisited the issue following Mr. Eccles' revelations.

He said the Governor needed to bring the Premier and the Attorney General to account to make sure there was no tampering with the independent DPP's office by the Attorney General or the Government.

He also stated the United Bermuda Party had called for a job description and code of conduct for the new role of political Attorney General; to date, none has been received.

Mr. Barritt also raised concerns about the decision to move responsibility for the judiciary and legislative affairs to the Attorney General.

This includes ensuring that the judiciary has a sufficient budget to run its affairs properly and that it has adequate staff.

Mr. Barritt said in most countries, having your top law officer in charge of the judiciary makes sense, but given that there were indications of political meddling in the pyramid scheme issue, it could be dangerous in Bermuda.

Mr. Barritt may be right on the latter point, but there are strong arguments for keeping the judiciary and the Attorney General's chambers entirely separate.

The judiciary, as the judicial arm of government, needs to be independent of the executive. Because the Attorney General must still represent the Government on civil issues in the courts, it is risky to have its finances under the control of a person appearing before the judges.

This is not to say that the current Attorney General would abuse her powers; but the fact remains that there is the potential for abuse, regardless of who holds the post.

Having said that, Mr. Barritt did criticise the Premier for concentrating power in the Cabinet Office when she first shuffled Government departments.

Her move to spin off Legislative Affairs and the judiciary from the Cabinet Office does show that the Premier is not intent on concentrating all power around her. But the question remains of whether she has shed the right departments to the right Minister.

Bermuda's credibility depends on having a strong and independent judicial system. The Opposition is right to raise these issues in the first place and is right to fulfil its constitutional duties in not letting them drop.