KINGSTON, Jamaica – The delayed appointment of former Cabinet minister Peter Bunting to the Senate was consummated this morning, with his eventual swearing in to the Upper House.

President of the Senate, Thomas Tavares Finson, welcomed the new member, recalling their collaboration as members of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica for some seven years, while Bunting served as general secretary of the People’s National Party.

“I am sure that the application that he demonstrated there, will augur well for the rigorous legislative agenda that we face in this Senate in 2021,” Tavares Finson noted.

However, Bunting laced his acceptance speech with a mandate demanding a review of the Jamaican constitution, and to address issues like the detention of citizens under the states of emergency, and the use of the emergencies as a crime fighting tool.

He noted that the government has not appealed the recent decision of the Supreme Court against certain detentions, which meant that the ruling has remained unchallenged.

“I raise this case to highlight (not only) a collective failure on our part as legislators to recognise the defects in the law, but also a failure of repeatedly voting to extend the states of emergency, when the situation did not qualify as such,” he stated.

“The Oath of Allegiance is to uphold and defend the Constitution, not the expedient goals of an executive,” Bunting said.

Former Leader of Opposition Business, Senator Donna Scott Mottley, whom Bunting has succeeded, said she noted that while Bunting had the ability to attract some level of controversy, he had distinguished himself as a four-term member of the House of Representatives.

“I am sure that he will continue to make the sort of contribution which had made him noticed in the Jamaican political landscape,” she said.

 In addition to becoming a senator, Bunting has also been named the new Leader of Opposition Business and Opposition spokesman on national security.

Balford Henry