Morgan fills Senate seat vacated by Reid

FORMER COMMUNICATIONS director in the Office of the Prime Minister Robert Nesta Morgan was yesterday sworn in as the country’s newest senator to fill the seat made vacant by Ruel Reid’s resignation in March.

The prime minister had asked Reid to resign as minister of education, youth and information amid allegations of corruption at his ministry. Reid also resigned as senator.

“I take this very seriously. I commit to function with integrity and to try make the people of Woodhall, Clarendon, proud,” Morgan said to reporters yesterday.

The 37-year-old Morgan, who also took the oath to serve as the new parliamentary secretary in a short ceremony at King’s House yesterday, joins a short list of persons who have served at senators before the age of 40. The list includes former Prime Minister Edward Seaga and another sitting senator, Mathew Samuda, who, at 35, is the youngest member of the Upper House.

Morgan told The Gleaner that the appointment is significant as it shows the level of confidence the prime minister has in him, and it has afforded him an opportunity to promote good governance.

“... It also gives me the opportunity to promote ... good government policy in a manner that I can influence while at the same time infusing my own interests – as it relates to those issues that are dear to me – into the conversation,” Morgan said.

He said that while in the Senate, he would take particular interest rural development, education, the treatment of children, corporal punishment, and the environment.