SOURCES in the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) have rejected claims that its immediate past president Dr Peter Phillips should shoulder some of the blame for the current impasse involving Senator Norman Horne as the saga concerning his appointment deepens.

Phillips had named Horne among the eight Opposition senators following the party’s defeat in the September 3, 2020 General Election, despite whispers that he was not eligible to sit in the Upper House because he was a citizen of the United States.

Yesterday, Nationwide News Network reported that it had proof that Horne, who had indicated that he would not take his seat in the Senate to allow the person who replaced Phillips a free hand, was indeed a United States citizen and therefore not eligible to sit in the Parliament.

Reliable sources told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that they were not surprised by yesterday’s radio report as questions had been raised inside the party as to whether Horne was a US citizen.

According to the sources, it was expected that Horne would renounce his US citizenship after Phillips indicated to him that he wanted him in the Upper House. The sources said, at that time, Horne indicated that he was only interested in serving Jamaica and would be willing to sit in the Senate.

The sources further claimed that following the party’s defeat Phillips approached Horne, who assured the then party president that he would be willing to serve in the Senate.

According to our sources, it was based on that declaration that Phillips included the businessman among his eight senators.

Up to yesterday, however, the PNP sources were not sure if Horne remained a US citizen, although Nationwide reported that he remained a US citizen as of the date Phillips announced his Senate picks.

Horne, meanwhile, remained silent on the citizenship issue yesterday and when he was likely to take steps to resign from the Senate, which PNP President Mark Golding is eagerly awaiting to allow his pal, Peter Bunting, the former Manchester Central Member of Parliament, to take a seat on the Opposition benches in the Senate. Golding announced last week that Bunting would take up the role of Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate, taking over from Senator Donna Scott-Mottley, who will be the deputy leader. Bunting was also named shadow minister of national security.

However, Golding’s plan was embarrassingly halted last Friday when it was realised that Horne had not resigned from the Senate, which meant that there was no vacancy to accommodate Bunting in the Upper House.

It also emerged last week that Horne was owed $10 million by the party, but he did not place the debt as part of any plan to give up his Senate seat.

PNP President Golding, in a release Tuesday, said the options available to Horne were either:

1. Make good on his public declaration made in October that he did not intend to be sworn in to the Senate and would shortly send his letter of resignation to the governor general to indicate the same; or

2. Indicate that he intends to take the oath of office and be sworn in as a senator. “If, however, he chooses to be sworn in as senator, he should provide documentation evidencing that he had renounced his US citizenship prior to his appointment to the Senate, in order to clarify his eligibility,” a matter being put forward publicly by the PNP for the first time.