KINGSTON, Jamaica — It was a family affair of sorts when Jamaica’s new 21-member Senate was sworn in at Gordon House on Thursday.

For the first time, a President of the Senate, Tom Tavares-Finson, will preside while his son is also a member of the Upper House.

The warmth in the embrace could be felt by those watching the proceedings when Tavares-Finson stepped down from the president’s chair and hugged and tapped the back of his son Christian after he was sworn in as one of three new government senators appointed by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness. Like his father, Christian is an attorney-at-law.

On the other side of the aisle, former seven-term Member of Parliament for St Thomas Eastern, Dr Fenton Ferguson, was present as his son Ramon Small-Ferguson was sworn in.

The younger Ferguson is chief executive officer (CEO) of Barita Investments Limited and managing director of Barita Unit Trusts Management Company Limited.

Ramon Small-Ferguson CEO of Barita Investments Limited was sworn in as senator at Gordon House on Thursday, September 18 (Photo: Karl McLarty)

Three of the 13 government senators are new; the other two who were sworn in on Thursday are JMMB Group CEO Keith Duncan, whose father is the late Dr DK Duncan, a former firebrand general secretary of the People’s National Party, and attorney-at-law Rose Marie Bennett-Cooper.

Returning government senators are Kamina Johnson Smith, Abka Fitz-Henley, Charles Sinclair, who was reappointed deputy president, Aubyn Hill, Dr Dana Morris Dixon, Sherene Golding Campbell, Kavan Gayle, Marlon Morgan, and Dr Elon Thompson.

On the Opposition side, five of the eight senators appointed by Opposition Leader Mark Golding are new. Apart from Small-Ferguson, the other new senators who were sworn in on Thursday are JMMB director and People’s National Party (PNP) treasurer Kisha Gaye Anderson; 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 at the University of the West Indies, Mona; and Cleveland Tomlinson.

Donna Scott-Mottley returned as Leader of Opposition Business; Professor Floyd Morris and Lambert Brown were also returned.

Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Kamina Johnson Smith, noted that the Upper House is now 33 per cent women, with seven among its ranks.

She also noted that the House of Representatives has 18 women, who make up 29 per cent of that 63-member body.

Johnson Smith, who was reappointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, noted that overall, 25 of the 84 parliamentarians are women this time around.

— Lynford Simpson