JAMAICA | JLP says its frequent walk-outs doesn't disrupt business of the Senate

KINGSTON, Jamaica, December 17, 2021 - The JLP Senate Caucus says it wants to assure the public that despite its repeated walk out whenever Opposition Senator Lambert Brown rises to speak, their protest action does not disrupt the business of the Senate.

This is contained in a media release from the JLP  in reaction to pressure from the public in relation to the action of the Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Kamina Johnson Smith. 

Over the past four months she has been walking out of the Senate, accompanied by several government senators  whenever Opposition Senator Lambert Brown rises to speak in the Upper House.

The statement late Thursday afternoon, said the Government Senate Caucus had taken note of the  newspaper articles which offered commentary “on reactions to Senator Lambert Brown’s conduct in the Senate.”

The statement expressed regret that the articles in both newspapers “have not only ignored the generally abhorrent conduct of Senator Brown in the Senate, which has been the source of much discourse and debate during his tenure. Instead they have made a concerted effort to focus negative attention on the Leader of Government Business, ignoring that several members of our caucus often depart from the Senate Chamber when Senator Brown makes presentations.

For a number of Months, since Opposition Senator Brown criticised the Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Kamina Johnson Smith for accusing former Senator A.J. Nicholson of sending her threatening emails, she  and other government senators have been walking out of the Senate chamber when Brown makes his contributions.

This action the JLP statement said “ is in protest to his consistent displays of disrespectful, discourteous and unparliamentary conduct.”

The Government senators charged that this was “ is part of a coordinated political strategy by the PNP” as “we note the quotes attributed to Senator Floyd Morris in the Gleaner of yesterday’s date, and are reminded that it was not very long ago that he was heard in a voice note, using the fact that they had gone “on the attack against Senator Johnson Smith” as part of a uniting call for comrades.  

“This has cemented for us what we have been observing in the Senate and in some print media, particularly with regard to the Leader of Government Business,.   This is also consistent with the lack of effort made by members of the Opposition Caucus to encourage Senator Brown to desist in behaving in a disrespectful manner,” the JLP statement said.

The Opposition Senator maintains however, that any interrogation of Hansard, the official records of the Parliament, will reveal that all he has been doing is to defent the interest of the Jamaican people by way of detailed, accurate  research, and presentation of facts and truth in the Senate. He said the records will show that he has not been disrespectful to the President nor his fellow parliamentarians.

He pointed out that on the other hand, the public criticisms have been about the "childish" conduct of the Leader of Government Business.

According to the JLP statement, “It is ironic that the Opposition’s own argument regarding proper conduct and courtesy is the very reason for our actions. Their reasoning is defeated almost every Friday when Senator Brown behaves in the way he often does.  We cannot count the number of times he has been instructed to stop arguments along certain lines or to withdraw improper statements etc.

“We are satisfied that our actions finally appear to be resonating with the Opposition Senators, and hope that they will make an effort to understand the vast chasm that exists between the conduct they are tacitly defending, and our understanding that, the courtesy of Senators to be heard in silence presumes decency. It presumes that the presentation to be heard is of a standard of conduct which itself is deserving of that courtesy. 

"Furthermore, we wish to assure the public that this action does not disrupt the business of the Senate," the JLP statement said.