PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson yesterday named the remaining six Government Senators, two of whom will serve in the Upper House for the first time.
The two newcomers are attorney-at-law Keste Miller and Montego Bay businessman Noel Sloley who complete the Government's slate of 13 Senators.
An advisor to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade K.D. Knight, Mr. Miller earlier this year challenged Sharon Hay-Webster for the right to run as the People's National Party (PNP) candidate in South St. Catherine in the general election.
The challenge caused a rift in the party with different camps lining up behind the two candidates. Mrs. Hay-Webster got the green light to run in the seat, which she won in the recent election.
Mr. Sloley is president of Jamaica Tours in Montego Bay and a pointman for the Prime Minister in that section of the island.
University of the West Indies lecturer, Professor Trevor Munroe, who was an Indepen-dent Senator in the last Parliament, will also serve as a Government Senator. The Gleaner reported yesterday that Prof. Munroe had accepted an offer by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson for him to serve on the Government benches.
In an interview yesterday, Prof. Munroe said he decided to serve on the PNP benches because of the new emphasis of the Patterson-administration on crucial issues such as constitutional reform, ending political tribalism and ridding the society of the guns.
He added that he had started work on important issues in the Senate which he would want to continue. Some of these issues, he said, had to do with constitutional reform and state financing for political parties.
The UWI lecturer said he would operate as a Government Senator with an independent mind in carrying out his functions.
"The Prime Minister in his discussion with me indicated that he would understand if and when I felt it necessary to have to be critical of specific areas of the Government," he said.
While not required to be a member of the party to hold the post of a Government Senator, Prof. Munroe said he was giving serious thought to whether he should make a formal application for membership.
Meanwhile, those returning to the Senate are Mrs. Syringa Marshall-Burnett (President); Norman Grant, chairman of the board of the Jamaica 4-H Clubs, and Navel Clarke, an officer of the National Workers Union.
They will join A.J. Nicholson, Attorney-General and Burchell Whiteman, Minister of Informa-tion. The other Government Senators are Delano Franklin, Noel Monteith, Floyd Morris and Deika Morrison, who have all been appointed State Ministers and Kern Spencer, who goes back as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of National Security.
Government Senators Alfred Rattray and Fred Hamaty, attorneys-at-law, have not been reappointed as Government members to the Upper House. Both men have been ailing for some time.
At the same time, all 60 MPs and the 21 Senators are to be sworn in at a ceremony at Gordon House next Thursday, November 14. The ceremony, which will start at 11:00 a.m., will be officiated by Clerk of the House, Mrs. Shirley Lewis.
