LEADER of Government Business in the Senate, AJ Nicholson, has suggested that the Senate removes the ban on Opposition member Marlene Malahoo Forte and allow the Senate to resume debating the three ‘CCJ Bills’ this morning.

But indications are that the Opposition would not return to the Senate before tomorrow, even if the suspension is lifted today.

Senator Nicholson, who had moved the motion for the suspension of Senator Malahoo Forte last Friday, told President of the Senate Floyd Morris in a letter yesterday that there was no reason why his suggestion should not find agreement on all sides, following the developments on the issue this week.

This follows public statements by Minister of Justice Senator Mark Golding that he would agree with a removal of the suspension, having obtained copies of the controversial letters.

However, Leader of Opposition Business Tom Tavares Finson said that the Opposition would not be able to return to the Senate today.

“At 10:00 am tomorrow (when the Senate is scheduled to resume), Senator Malahoo Forte will still be on suspension, so the Opposition will not be present,” he told the Jamaica Observer said last night.

Senator Tavares Finson said that he had not been officially informed about Senator Nicholson’s proposal to Senator Morris, nor has the president responded to his letter on Monday indicating that the Opposition would not rejoin the debate on the “CCJ Bills” prior to the lifting of the ban and an apology from the Government.

In a remarkable change of heart on Tuesday, Senator Nicholson informed the Senate president that, since everything concerning Senator Forte’s movements during Friday’s sitting had been cleared up, using video taping from CCTV security cameras at Gordon House, and copies of letters from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) to the previous Government were now in the possession of Golding, “there appears to be no impediment to a resumption of the conduct of the people’s business in the Upper House”.

“There, therefore, appears to be no reason why it should not be agreed, on all sides, that the pursuit of the conduct of the people’s business would justify the removal of the suspension order imposed upon the Senator to coincide with the sitting of the Senate tomorrow (today),” he added.

However, Senator Tavares Finson said that there are other issues to be addressed, after the lifting of the suspension, including the question of the privacy of members in certain areas of Gordon House.

In a letter to the clerk to the Houses of Parliament, Heather Cooke, on Tuesday, Tavares Finson questioned the use of the videotapes extracted from the security CCTV cameras at Gordon House, which were shown to journalists at a press briefing held on Tuesday by Senator Morris.

He said that it was a serious breach of the right to privacy of the Senators while attending meetings at Gordon House, and has demanded an urgent explanation of the scope and extent of the camera surveillance from the clerk.