Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Rural, Juliet Holness, has been reappointed as Speaker of the Home of Representatives, regardless of sturdy objections from the Opposition Folks’s Nationwide Get together (PNP).
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Holness, who beforehand served as Deputy Speaker from 2020 to 2023 and as Speaker since September final yr, was sworn in on Thursday on the official opening of the 2025 parliamentary time period. Heroy Clarke was additionally returned as Deputy Speaker, whereas Floyd Inexperienced was named the brand new Chief of Authorities Enterprise within the Home.
Within the Higher Home, Senator Tom Tavares Finson was re-elected President. 13 Authorities Senators and eight Opposition Senators have already taken their oaths, with Members of Parliament presently being sworn in. The proceedings had been guided by Clerk to the Homes of Parliament, Colleen Lowe.
The PNP had earlier declared that it could not help the reappointment of both Holness or former Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, arguing that the workplace calls for impartiality and equity that, it mentioned, had been undermined lately.
“The Speaker should serve the folks of Jamaica as an neutral umpire of parliamentary proceedings, not partisan pursuits,” mentioned PNP chairperson Dr Angela Brown Burke in a Wednesday launch. She pointed to delays within the tabling of reviews from the Auditor Normal and Integrity Fee as proof that belief within the Speaker’s workplace had eroded.
The governing Jamaica Labour Get together (JLP) later rejected the Opposition’s place. JLP Normal Secretary Dr Horace Chang dismissed the PNP’s objections as “baseless and spurious,” accusing the occasion of making an attempt to dam “two eminently certified ladies” from management.
“We is not going to take directives from the PNP or any group as we execute our new mandate to control Jamaica with confidence, function and humility,” Chang mentioned, including that the Opposition’s stance “smacks of misogyny and vanity” at a time when the nation ought to be supporting ladies in management.
Each Dalrymple-Philibert and Holness have beforehand held the Speaker’s chair. Dalrymple-Philibert served between 2020 and 2023, whereas Holness assumed the position in September 2023.
The opening of Parliament marks the formal begin of a brand new legislative time period, with the JLP reaffirming its majority management and the PNP sharpening its stance on accountability within the Home.
