Bert Samuels, well known defense attorney is arguing that if a political party can force senate appointees to sign undated letters it is “akin them having a guillotine over their heads and brings into question their contribution in the Upper House.”
Samuels was speaking on RJR’s call in programme Hotline, on Monday, in response to the use of undated letters of resignation signed by the opposition Jamaica Labour party’s (JLP), Dr. Christopher Tufton and Arthur Williams to remove them from the Senate.
He said the use of the letters was not his concern but rather that they exist and this sets a dangerous precedent if it appears that legislators are appointed with the expectation of backing their party's view on issues.
“I would hate to be in court or in the Senate with any kind of threat over my head, that if I don’t carry the position in a certain way , I may loose my job. I don’t think that’s what the Senate is about in terms of deliberating on laws,” he said.
On Friday, shortly after Tufton and Williams resigned from the upper house, Williams in a press release disclosed that when JLP senators were appointed in January 2012, Andrew Holness, Opposition Leader had required all of them to sign undated letters of resignation and a letter authorizing Holness to date and submit the letters to the Governor General.
According to Williams that this was done by Holness because he was deeply concerned about the prospect of any of the JLP senators departing from the Party's position in relation to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
The JLP favours a national referendum being used to determine whether Jamaica should accede to the appellate division of the CCJ, replacing the UK based Privy Council as Jamaica’s final appellate court. The governing People’s National Party (PNP), on the other hand, prefers having a the change enacted by a vote in both chambers of Parliament, requiring a two-thirds majority to amend the Jamaican Constitution.