Senator Morgan demands apology from Brown-Burke, Golding after mace disruption

Government Senator Marlon Morgan is insisting that an apology is owed to House Speaker Juliet Holness, the Parliament, and the wider Jamaican public following Tuesday night's mace incident involving South West St Andrew Member of Parliament Dr Angela Brown-Burke and Opposition Leader Mark Golding.

The flashpoint came during debate on the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill, when Brown-Burke removed the mace from its position in the House of Representatives. As the ceremonial staff that signifies parliamentary authority and the proper conduct of sittings, the mace is meant to be touched only by the marshal.

Speaker Holness rebuked Brown-Burke for the act and suspended her from the rest of the sitting. The veteran MP did not initially leave the chamber, with Opposition colleagues, Golding among them, standing alongside her. The standoff forced a temporary halt to proceedings, and when sitting resumed, Brown-Burke did not return with the rest of the Opposition bench.

Morgan branded her behaviour "disgraceful and grossly disorderly".

"The Parliament of Jamaica is the preeminent symbol of our rich and vibrant democracy. That a sitting of a committee of Parliament was so disgracefully disrupted and effectively brought into disrepute is the clearest indication yet that the Opposition PNP is prepared to take Jamaica back to the dark days of our unsavoury political past," he said in a written statement.

He went on: "As if the grossly disorderly conduct of PNP Chairman Angela Brown-Burke, who interfered with the mace, was not disturbing enough, the entire Opposition PNP was openly defiant and exhibited contempt for the chairman's ruling and the will of the members, who voted in favour of Brown-Burke's suspension from the remainder of Tuesday night's sitting."

The senator linked his concern to wider social ills affecting young Jamaicans. "Against the backdrop of violence and other forms of anti-social behaviour among our nation's children, I am particularly disappointed that the Parliamentary Opposition, with Opposition Leader Mark Golding being equally complicit, has undermined the moral authority of the nation's Parliament in the way they have," he said.

In his view, the Opposition's posture in the chamber that night offered a poor model of acceptable behaviour. He signalled support for formal sanctions against Brown-Burke, but stressed that this alone would not be enough.

"While I look forward to the appropriate parliamentary sanctions being meted out to Dr Angela Brown-Burke in particular, nothing short of a swift and unreserved public apology by Angela Brown-Burke and Opposition Leader Mark Golding to the Speaker, their colleague parliamentarians, and the people of Jamaica should be forthcoming at this time," Morgan said.

He further described Tuesday's events as marking a new low point in the country's political life.

"For the other PNP members, led by Opposition Leader Mark Golding, to have joined Dr Angela Brown-Burke in open defiance of the rules governing Parliament, and the expressed directive of the chairman and House Speaker, renders them just as culpable and worthy of rebuke as Angela Brown-Burke herself," he added.