Dear Editor,

As a private citizen, I think the media is being unfair to the Senate, and by extension its leader Senator Dorothy Lightbourne.

This is a classic case of damned if you do, and damned if you don’t. All the bills that have come from the lower house for their deliberation and vetting, to my knowledge, have been dealt with. No bills have come from the lower house because of the pursuit of the contentious matter of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips and the extradition of Christopher “Dudus” Coke, among other pressing issues. Bills to be vetted, as I am sure the pundits are fully aware, are neither created out of thin air nor by Senator Lightbourne. They are passed down from the House of Representatives.

Since the beginning of the year the Senate has managed to pass and amend some 21 bills inclusive of the controversial but extremely necessary six crime bills.

According to my research, those passed include: the Financial Investigations Division Act; the Casino Gaming Act the Independent Commission of Investigations Act; the Credit Reporting Act; the Appropriation Act; the Agricultural Development Corporation (Change of Name) Act; The University of the West Indies – Mona (Security) (Amendment) Act; The Child Care and Protection (Children’s Homes) Regulations, 2005 (Validation and Indemnity); Parish Council General Election (Postponement) Act; Town and Country Planning (Negril and Green Island Area Local Planning Authority) (Validation and Indemnity) Act.

Those amended include the Betting Gaming and Lotteries Act; the Offences Against The Person Act; the Parole Act; the Bail Act; the Constabulary Force (Interim Provisions for Arrest and Detention) Act; the Bail (Interim Provisions for Specified Offences) Act; The Firearms Act; the Jury Act; the Industrial and Provident Societies Act; The Tourist (Duty-Free) Shopping System (Change of Name and Amendment) Act.

The Senate is in fact a deliberative body; they review bills passed down from the House of Representatives, a body which also undeniably has an inexhaustible list of extremely urgent issues affecting the nation to which it must attend.

Victoria R Wallace

Kingston 8

victoriar.wallace@gmail.com