THE Senate is expected to give its assent today to the Bill seeking to indemnify acting mayor of Portmore, Leon Thomas, and the Portmore Municipal Council (PMC) from legal actions they may face for performing in breach of the Municipalities Act, since January.

The Opposition raised strong objections in the House of Representatives on Tuesday to the way the Government had gone about rectifying the situation, which developed after the passing of Mayor George Lee in September 2013, which led to the acting mayor remaining in office beyond the six months allowed by the Act. However, Opposition members eventually agreed with Government MPs that the actions were “better late than never” and did not contest the Bill.

The Bill, The Municipalities (Validation and Amendment) Act, proposes to amend the Municipalities Act to allow the mayor to continue acting beyond the current six-month time limit, and also for him and the council to continue operating legally until new local government elections are called. In addition, it also aims at regularising the situation in two divisions of the Portmore Municipal Council, where councillors elected on a government ticket are unsworn, with no access to the council’s budget, because portions of their divisions were drawn from outside the Portmore community during the boundary changes which preceded the December 2011 General Election.

Opposition spokesman on local government, Desmond McKenzie, contended during the debate in the House that, while his side could forgive the changes to validate the extension of the service of the acting mayor and the council, it could not support the untidy way in which the Government was seeking to rectify the boundaries issue. However, no Opposition member voted against the Bill.

The Senate is likely to raise a number of legal issues in today’s debate, but it is expected that the Government will use its majority in the Upper House to pass the Bill and finally resolve the messy 27-month-old issue.