Earl Moxam, Senior Gleaner Writer

Dr. Ossie Harding at the swearing-in ceremony for Orette Bruce Golding as Prime Minister of Jamaica at King's House on September 11. Harding has been appointed as President of the Senate. - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photogrpher

He already holds the record for the longest continuous service in the Senate:1977-2002. Now, with his return to the Upper House of Parliament, Oswald Gaskell Harding, OJ, has achieved another mark of distinction, becoming the first person to serve twice as President of the Senate.

It is a task that he is looking forward to with great relish, appreciating, as he does, the importance of the legislature in the country's system of government, and, in particular, the unique ways of the Senate.

While senators are nominated by their respective political parties and are expected to adhere to the parties' positions on matters emanating from the House of Representatives, Dr. Harding has always maintained that this should not be slavishly done.

Again, he returned to that theme when he spoke to The Sunday Gleaner about his reappointment. Senators, he said, should be true to the people of Jamaica in carefully scrutinising legislative proposals and ensuring that these are in the best interest of the country.

"The Senate is not a rubber stamp! We are a review chamber. That is our function and we must never forget it!" he reiterated.

It was that independent streak which saw him, as President of the Senate in the 1980s, standing up to one of the most powerful government ministers of the day, ruling him out of order on a particular matter. Some of his colleagues, alarmed that he had placed himself on a collision course with his party leaders over the issue, wondered why he had been so reckless.

contentious issue

More than twenty years later, he still recalls with a smile, the response he gave: "What they want to do at Belmont Road (address of the Jamaica Labour Party's headquarters) is a different matter, but while I sit in this chair, I'm going to do what is correct!"

He has fond memories of two senators from the People's National Party, Alfred Rattray and Fred Hamaty, who, like him, often spoke their minds on matters as they saw them, often to the discomfort of thier colleagus on the government side, during the 1990s.

The respected Queen's Counsel is also planning to again raise the somewhat contentious issue of compensation for senators with the new administration. Long con-vinced that senators should be paid for their service, he does not think he should drop the matter now.

"I don't think senators ought to be given any great salary, but surely, as a matter of principle, if they are contributing their time and their energy to the State, why should they not be compensated?" he stressed.

On the other hand, he readily conceded that prevailing economic constraints might make early implementation of a policy change difficult.

"One has to have a balanced view, because the way things are, with this trillion-dollar debt, I don't think the Prime Minister may be moved to accept any such representation. But I think at least certain allowances ought to be given. I think it is a principle, and at the right time, it should be addressed."

The construction of a new Parliament building is another undertaking which he believes ought to be tackled. And he's not subtle in his advocacy.

"We need a new Parliament! We've got to have a new Parliament! This is a democracy! This is something that's got to be there!"

Initially impressed by the vision of a grand new building at National Heroes' Circle, as enunciated many decades ago, Senator Harding is now beginning to give favourable consideration to Prime Minister Bruce Golding's arguments for remaining at the current Duke Street location.

second thoughts

"When the Prime Minister talked about the history, that parliament has always been down there (Duke Street), it struck a chord with me. I had always thought we should get out of there and find a nice open green space for the new building. But now I have had to have second thoughts."

In the meantime, the Senate President is thinking seriously about the task at hand for his chamber, the important bills to pass, and, possibly, significant constitutional reform measures as well.

Whatever the nature of the matters coming before the Senate, however, he stressed the importance of the members observing the level of decorum, appropriate to the traditions of the Upper House.

Accordingly, he said he would be making himself available, particularly to the new members on both sides, for orientation in the more 'civilised' ways of the review chamber.