THREE of Jamaica’s top business executives are slated to be sworn in as members of the Upper House today, with two coming from the JMMB Group.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness on Wednesday named JMMB Group CEO Keith Duncan among the list of 13 Government senators, while Opposition Leader Mark Golding named JMMB director Kisha Gaye Anderson among the party’s eight senators.

Golding also named Ramon Small-Ferguson, CEO Barita Investments Limited and managing director, Barita Unit Trusts Management Company Limited, among the Opposition senators.

Duncan, a former president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, now chairs the advisory committee for Jamaica’s Independent Fiscal Commission — a role it is not certain he will continue while sitting in the Senate.

On Wednesday Duncan, who has repeatedly stated that he is here to serve Jamaica in whatever capacity, told the
Jamaica Observer that he was locked in meetings but would be more than willing to comment on his appointment shortly.

Duncan — whose sister Patricia Duncan Sutherland contested the St Andrew Eastern seat on a PNP ticket in the September 3 General Election — will sit across the aisle from his JMMB executive colleague Anderson, the PNP’s treasurer and fellow private sector colleague Small-Ferguson.

The other new faces to be sworn in to sit on the Government benches today are attorneys Rose Marie Bennett-Cooper and Christian Tavares-Finson, son of the man expected to return as president of the Senate Tom Tavares-Finson.

The other returning Government senators are the expected Leader of Government Business Kamina Johnson Smith, Charles Sinclair, Aubyn Hill, Dr Dana Morris Dixon, Sherene Golding Campbell, Kavan Gayle, Abka Fitz-Henley, Marlon Morgan, and Dr Elon Thompson.

The Opposition benches will also include new faces Allan Bernard, who contested the St James North Western seat in the general election, Dr Maziki Thame, a senior lecturer in the Department of Government, The University of the West Indies, Mona; and Cleveland Tomlinson.

They will join Donna Scott-Mottley, who is expected to return as Leader of Opposition Business, Professor Floyd Morris; and trade unionist Lambert Brown.

Ramon Small-Ferguson

Allan Bernard

Cleveland Tomlinson