KINGSTON, Jamaica – Senate President Floyd Morris says he will not be apologising to Opposition Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte because he acted in accordance with the Standing Orders in suspending her from the Senate.

At a just-concluded press conference at Gordon House, the president refuted claims by the Opposition that he had sought to have the House marshal “retrieve” Malahoo Forte from the restroom to present him with the letter he had requested, which was reportedly sent by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) to the Jamaican Government in 2010. In the letter, the JCPC had expressed interest in coming to Jamaica to hear cases.

The media was then shown footage of the events that transpired in the Upper House on Friday, October 23, leading to the action taken by the president.

“Those public statements are not true. The overwhelming evidence, first coming from Senator Malahoo Forte’s interaction with the marshal, had her in the lunchroom… the independent camera evidence now confirms what everyone suspected. For the approximately 30 minutes that Senator Malahoo Forte stayed out of the Senate chamber, she was in the dining room of Parliament,” Morris stated.

The Opposition has threatened not to participate in the debate on the three bills seeking to replace the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice as Jamaica’s final court of appeal. The debate is expected to resume this Friday.

Alphea Saunders