OPPOSITION senators informed the president, Floyd Morris, yesterday that they will take no further part in the current debate on the Bills on Jamaica’s final appellate court until Friday’s suspension of Senator Marlene Malahoo- Forte is withdrawn.

In a letter addressed to Senator Morris, leader of Opposition business, Senator Tom Tavares-Finson, said that Senator Malahoo-Forte’s rights have been severely trampled on, “as there is nothing to justify her suspension”.

“It is, therefore, appropriate that the suspension be immediately terminated and the president and Government senators offer their apologies,” the letter said.

Indications from Senator Morris, as well as Leader of Government Business AJ Nicholson and Minister of Justice Mark Golding — who is piloting the Bills — were that they saw no reason to apologise.

However, a release from Gordon House yesterday evening said that Senator Morris would be holding a press conference at Gordon House this morning at 10:00 to “address allegations made concerning the occurrences during the sitting of the Senate on Friday”.

Opposition Senator Malahoo-Forte was suspended from the Senate on Friday, after she failed to deliver a copy of a letter from the current final appellate court — the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) in London in 2010 offering to sit in Jamaica on certain conditions. She had read from the letter during her contribution to the debate on three Bills seeking to replace the JCPC with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as Jamaica’s final appellate court.

However, the Opposition member, who has been a Senator since 2007, has insisted that she had in her possession the letter to be presented to the president on Friday when the Senate was adjourned while she was outside the chamber. The suspension vote was carried by the Government majority in the Senate, as Opposition members contended that there was no need for such a drastic action.

Their letter contended that Senator Malahoo-Forte’s rights had been severely trampled on, as there was nothing to justify her suspension.

“It is therefore appropriate that the suspension be immediately terminated, and the president and Government Senators offer their apologies,” the Opposition said.

“In light of the treatment meted out to our colleague Senator, the unnecessary and inappropriate actions of the Senate, the Opposition Senators will not continue to participate in the debate on the three ‘CCJ Bills’, until the suspension of our colleague senator has been lifted and an appropriate apology given to her by the president and Government Senators,” the letter from the Opposition said.

Meanwhile, Tavares-Finson noted that Senator Malahoo- Forte had agreed on Thursday to produce a copy of the 2010 letter, which was addressed to then Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Dorothy Lightbourne.

“She is still prepared to do so in person in the Senate, but unfortunately her suspension does not so allow,” Tavares-Finson said.

He quoted from Standing Order 43(11) of the Senate that: “A member who is directed to withdraw or is suspended under the Standing Order shall not be entitled to attend the sitting from which he was directed to withdraw, or in the case of suspension to attend any sitting or enter the precincts of the Senate until the determination of his suspension”.

He said that it is important to take note that the act of producing the letter is not a private act, between herself and the President.

“It was a public promise made to the Senate as a body, and is to be carried out from her seat,” he explained.

“The action of suspension, taken by the Government Senators, at your urging, has resulted in making it impossible for Senator Malahoo forte to take her seat and properly produce the letter, two copies of which she actually made with the assistance of your secretary during her absence from the chamber,” Tavares-Finson stated.

“The motion to suspend the Senator was accordingly, at best, ill-advised and irrational, unless the matter is more insidious than it appears,” he added.

He said that he had taken note that Senator Malahoo Forte re-entered the chamber before the Senate adjourned with the intention of producing the letter.

“We are aware that you were not in a position to observe her entry into the chamber, but are firmly of the view that Senator Nicholson or Senator Golding had a duty to bring this fact to your attention, rather than proceed with undue haste to vote to suspend the Senator.

“Furthermore, during the motion for the adjournment, I rose to advise you that the Senator had entered the chamber and, notwithstanding this, the motion for the adjournment was taken with the Senator present,” Senator Tavares- Finson observed.

He said that the Opposition also noted that, in arriving at the decision on how to proceed on Friday, Senator Morris made reference to his efforts to suspend Senator Malahoo-Forte on Thursday.

“It appears that you sought to complete what you were unable to achieve on that day, when objection was taken to her statement that the scheme of the three Bills as presented to the Senate made a mockery of the Constitution of Jamaica. The motion was therefore unconstitutional and a breach of the Standing Orders in so far as it wrongfully attempted to deny her the freedom to fully express her views in respect of the Bills being debated.

“It may be that Senator Golding, minister of justice, recognised this, resulting in his disobedience of your call upon him to move a motion for her suspension,” the Opposition Senators concluded.