House Speaker’s continuation ‘up to her and her husband’

Despite his concerns that leadership of two of the three branches of Jamaica’s Government is in one household, Opposition Leader Mark Golding says it is up to House Speaker Juliet Holness and her husband, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, to decide if she should step down.

“For her to step aside is really up to her and her husband,” he said, adding however, that “it will be best if we had a speaker who one could say is independent of the Government”.

Golding made the argument during a press briefing at his office in St Andrew last evening, hours after the prime minister led a walkout of Government MPs on the Opposition leader’s contribution to the 2024-2025 Budget Debate.

Golding had claimed that Mrs Holness being Speaker of the House “does not sit well with the tradition that the Speaker must act independently of the Government of the day”.

He also asserted that the prime minister left the Chamber to avoid hearing criticisms about the lack of certification of his income and assets and a request for him to “take away himself”.

“What I believed happened was that, when the speech was shared in Parliament and the prime minister saw the points that were coming after the point I was making, he decided to take this action because he didn’t want me to have the opportunity of making those points in Parliament in front of him,” he said.

Gordon House issued the speech and it showed that Golding was going on to criticise Holness for imposing a gag order on his members from talking about the Integrity Commission’s investigation into alleged illicit enrichment into six MPs. It is not clear on which political side those six MPs sit.

Golding was also going to speak on the non-certification of the prime minister’s income and assets and income by the Integrity Commission. Holness said last month that the commission had sought more information from him about his declarations.

“It is untenable for the head of Government of Jamaica not to be in good standing with the country’s Integrity Commission. All I can say is that, if I were in your position, I would take away myself and hand over to someone else who isn’t compromised,” stated the speech issued by Gordon House.

The walkout left the Parliament without a quorum and derailed Golding’s presentation on the proposed Budget for the 2024-2025 financial year that starts on April 1.

Holness shouted “low and desperate” before leaving the Chamber.

‘TERRIBLE ERROR’

“I did not say anything offensive. I wasn’t rude,” Golding told journalists, adding that it was a “terrible error” by Holness to walk out of Parliament because “when has a government ever walked out of its own Parliament when it has a majority – it’s absurd.”

In the meantime, while the Opposition supported Mrs Holness’ nomination as Speaker last September, Golding is now arguing that his side “was not consulted” before the moment of election and, further, the clerk gave a script to Leader Opposition Business in the House Phillip Paulwell on the basis that it was “tradition” for the Speaker to get bipartisan support. However, pointing to new rulings on handling of anti-corruption reports, he said her performance has “given rise to concerns”.

“I made a point of principle that it doesn’t sit well with the tradition in our Parliament system, which requires the Speaker of the House to be independent of the Government, for the wife of the prime minister who is the head of government, to be the speaker which is effectively the head of Parliament. These concerns are not just my concerns. Many Jamaicans feel that way. In fact, the international community also has concerns about it ... and, indeed the prime minister, who in an emotional fit, stood up and walked out ... really, himself, reinforced the validity of the point.”

Golding completed his Budget address on Duke Street, in front of the old parliamentary building.

Speaker Holness started the sitting but Deputy Speaker Heroy Clarke was presiding when the controversy erupted.

editorial@gleanerjm.com