Shaw, Blythe and Nicholson THERE WERE three absentees from among the 21 Senators and 60 Members of Parliament who were scheduled to be sworn-in at Gordon House yesterday.
Senator A.J. Nicholson, Attorney-General and Justice Minister, was off the island on official business; Audley Shaw, a JLP deputy leader and MP for Manchester North Eastern, was hospitalised after falling ill on Wednesday, But, there was no explanation for the absence of Dr. Karl Blythe, PNP MP for Westmoreland Central.
"I only realised he was not there when I was about to call his name," Shirley Lewis, Clerk of the Houses of Parlia-ment, told The Gleaner. Mrs Lewis presided over yesterday's proceedings which ran for nearly three hours. The loudest applause was reserved for newcomer, Verna Parchment of the JLP. The St. Ann North Western MP defeated former Local Government Minister, Arnold Bertram, in one of the most keenly contested races in the October 16 General Election.
Yesterday's ceremony marked the first time parliamentarians were swearing allegiance "to the Jamaican people and Jamaican Constitution." This followed an amendment to the Oaths Act in August. Parliamentarians previously swore allegiance to the Queen, her heirs and successors.
Twenty-three of the 34 PNP MPs were returning to Gordon House. Of the 26 JLP members, four Pearnel Charles, Dr. Ken Baugh, Horace Chang and Edmund Bartlett were returning after several years of absence.
Michael Peart was elected Speaker of the House and O.T. Williams his deputy.
Syringa Marshall-Burnett was returned as President of the Senate and Navel Clarke, an officer of the National Workers' Union, was named as her deputy.
