The Opposition appeared set to maintain its boycott of the Senate today despite a vote yesterday by Government legislators to have the ban on Senator Marlene Malahoo Forte lifted.

Opposition Senators were still in a caucus last night at press time, but highly placed sources said it was unlikely that they would return to the Upper House today to continue the debate on the three Bills seeking to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

Leader of Opposition Business Senator Tom Tavares Finson could not be contacted for comment last night. However, his letter to Senate President Floyd Morris yesterday gave an indication of the Opposition’s likely action.

Tavares Finson expressed his and his colleagues’ disappointment at the manner in which Morris has dealt with the controversy, labelling the Senate president’s treatment of Senator Malahoo Forte as “unjustified” and accusing him of abusing his authority.

Tavares Finson also referred to a press conference called by Morris on Tuesday to answer accusations made by the Opposition and at which the House Marshall was present and participated.

“The Marshall is an officer of Parliament who must respect and be respected by both sides of the Chamber,” Tavares Finson wrote. “It was wrong for him to have been present, let alone participate in a press conference called by you to defend your actions and assert misconduct on the part of Senator Malahoo Forte. It is unprecedented and he should never have been placed in that position.”

Tavares Finson said that while the Opposition was committed to moving past Morris’s “wrong” and “unfortunate” rulings, the wrongs must be corrected “to ensure that going forward there can be no doubt about how to proceed”.

Yesterday, Opposition benches remained vacant for the entire sitting, which lasted for just over one hour, after starting more than an hour late, as the Government waited patiently for even a single Opposition member to enter the chamber.

The only item on the agenda was the continuation of the debate on the three Bills. But, with the Government inclined not to resume the debate without the presence of the Opposition, there was no debate on the Bills.

Senator Tavares Finson had informed the Jamaica Observer from Wednesday night that his side would not return to the House to continue the debate until Senator Malahoo Forte’s ban was removed.

It appeared that the Government did not take the statement too seriously until some time after the 10:00 am scheduled start. When it became obvious that none of the Opposition senators would turn up, Government members retreated to their conference room to discuss the issue.

They returned to the chamber several minutes later, accepting that the CCJ Bills debate for the day was definitely off and deciding to debate the motion which eventually opened the door to Malahoo Forte’s turn, without handing over a letter from the JCPC which she had promised to hand to the president of the Senate, Floyd Morris.

Senator Morris used the opportunity, at the start of the sitting, shortly after 11:00 am, to explain that his secretary had confirmed that Senator Malahoo Forte had asked her to copy the letter from the JCPC, which was at the heart of the row. However, he said that the senator had not instructed his secretary to save a copy for him. He said that he also did checks to get an accurate indication of the time, to help bring clarity to the issue. He noted that Gordon House CCTV video footage confirmed that Senator Malahoo Forte went to his office at 11:13 am, shortly after he had spoken to her in the Senate about delivering to him a copy of the letter.

He said that the copies were delivered to her by his secretary at 11:18 am, and the next time she left the chamber was at 1:37 pm, and she returned at 2:14 pm, after the motion for suspension was moved.

He said that it was obvious that the letter was sent to his office to be copied, but no direction was given to his secretary to give him a copy.

He said that he had subsequently received letters from Leader of Government Business AJ Nicholson, and Senator Tavares Finson, requesting that the suspension be lifted. He also noted that Senator Tavares Finson had asked for an apology from the president.

“I want to indicate, via the Parliament, that there is absolutely no intention for me to apologise to the member, because I have not violated any standing order; I have not violated any rules where the suspension is concerned,” Senator Morris said.

He added that while, personally, he may not agree with the suggestion to lift the suspension, after weighing the factors, including the fact that Minister of Justice Senator Mark Golding has since received copies of the letter from the JCPC, which he had agreed to circulate to the members of the Senate, he would allow a vote on lifting the ban.

“I have also factored, most importantly, the national good and interest in order to make the debate on the CCJ continue, and based on that I will be allowing a member to move a motion to accommodate the lifting of the suspension to enable the member to retake her seat,” he said.

A motion was then moved by Senator Nicholson, asking that the suspension be lifted as it was “in the interest of the national good” that the debate on the CCJ Bills continue without delay.

Senator Golding said that, having received a copy of two letters between the JCPC and the Jamaican Government, he was tabling them to be printed and distributed to members.

After debating the issue for just over an hour, Government senators voted unanimously for Senator Malahoo Forte to return to Senate this morning.