Following the Senate meeting on Friday, July 26th , both Government and Opposition senators have begun to exchange a war of words against what they see as the other’s blatant misconduct.

During the meeting of the Upper House last Friday, Opposition senators abruptly ended the proceedings by walking out of the Chamber after the president of the Senate, Tom Tavares-Finson,
discontinued a presentation by People’s National Party Senator Lambert Brown.

The Senate had been debating the Road Traffic Act when Brown came forward to speak. In his statement, the Opposition senator twice referred to Tavares-Finson as a liar. When the Senate president moved to censor Brown for his seeming disrespect, Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Peter Bunting led his caucus out of the Chamber.

Over the course of the weekend both sides issued statements to the media and the Jamaican public justifying their actions and criticising the other party.

Bunting on Saturday accused Tavares-Finson of biased behaviour, noting, “The walkout was a direct protest against the blatant perversion of the president’s role, which demands impartiality and fairness.”

The Opposition senator has also referred to Tavares-Finson as little more than “a schoolyard bully”,
denouncing his actions as unbecoming of someone in his office. He further condemned the
Senate president’s use of the microphone system, a recent addition to Gordon House.

According to Bunting, Tavares-Finson has utilised this technology to stifle and mute Opposition senators.

“By repeatedly interposing himself in the debate, President Tavares-Finson has demonstrated a lack of
confidence in the Government senators’ ability to counter the arguments presented by the Opposition,”
the he clarified.

Bunting ended his statement by also speaking out against the JLP’s supposed attacks on the
Integrity Commission, Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) and Public Accounts
Committee (PAC).

However, in their own statement on Sunday, the JLP Senate Caucus outrightly refuted Bunting’s accusations.

The Government senators called out the actions of Brown and Bunting, expressing their
disappointment in the conduct of the Opposition senators, and contended that their claims of unfairness
was baseless, offensive, and disruptive. They added that such actions have hampered the legislative process and prevented the Senate from getting its work done.

The Government Senators have rallied behind Tavares-Finson, defending him from claims of wrongdoing.

“The Government Senate Caucus is disappointed that Senator Brown, without any credible basis,
repeatedly accused the Senate president of lying and declined to resume his seat when the president, in
exercising his authority in accordance with the Standing Orders, was providing important clarification
on a matter concerning the legislative affairs of the Parliament and the Constitution of Jamaica,”

Government Senate Caucus

In their address, the Government Senators also condemned Bunting for his aggressive language to a fellow senator, using words such as ‘dunce’ and ‘idiot’ to describe one of his peers in the Government, alongside the phrases ‘shut up’ and ‘bloody’. All of these highly provocative and demeaning words were uttered by the Opposition Senate leader before he led his party’s walkout of the Chamber on Friday, according to the Government’s statement.

In their declaration, the Government senators called the actions of Brown and Bunting “a flagrant breach of Section 35(4) of the Standing Orders which govern the operation of the Senate and states that it shall be out of order to use offensive or insulting language about a member of either Chamber”.

The Government Senators also argued that both men violated Section 43(4) of the Standing Orders, which prescribes sanctions for disregarding the authority of the president.

“We expect that both senators Bunting and Brown will withdraw their offensive language and issue a
suitably worded apology at the next sitting of the Senate,” the statement from the Government Senate
Caucus concluded.