The Parliamentary Opposition has stopped short of calling for the resignation of House Speaker Juliet Holness, but is insisting that her continuation in the role runs counter to good governance.

Opposition Leader Mark Golding’s criticisms of the Speaker’s conduct during his contribution to the Budget Debate in Parliament on Tuesday, March 19, resulted in a walk-out by Government MPs. During his presentation, Golding contended that Holness’ position as House Speaker is a conflict of interest and flies in the face of tradition as well as good governance principles, given that she is the wife of the prime minister and has so far not demonstrated that she is capable of being unbiased in the handling of parliamentary affairs.

The opposition leader argued further that the situation is untenable as the husband-and-wife-duo is both the head of government and Parliament.

Golding accused the Speaker of deliberately withholding damning reports from the country’s anti-corruption agency, the Integrity Commission, because they implicate members of the government.

This attracted the ire of Government MPs, chiefly Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who led the walk-out. The move effectively brought a premature end to the opposition leader’s presentation. He was forced to finish the remaining points of his presentation from the curbside of Duke Street outside the Parliament building.

“This is the first time in the history of Jamaica that the Government ends the Budget presentation of the leader of the opposition by pulling out their members and denying the Parliament a quorum so the proceedings coudn’t be completed,” Golding emphasised, as he spoke to the media from the Office of the Opposition Leader at West Kings House Road, St Andrew, last evening. “It is a shame that I wasn’t able to do so in the Parliament of the land.”

Acting House leader Olivia Grange, who is also minister of culture, gender and sport, rebuked the remarks of the opposition leader, accusing Golding and other members of the Opposition of being hypocritical. Grange described Golding’s comments as disturbing and accused him of bringing the honour of Parliament and the role of Speaker into disrepute.

“I thought it was an appropriate and necessary occasion for me to say that I have concerns and this does not sit well with the tradition of Speaker of the Parliament being an independent umpire in proceedings of Parliament and the prime minister’s actions reinforces that point,” Golding explained.

“When the chair became vacant, in keeping with the Standing Orders, the Member for St Andrew East Rural was proposed by the member for St Andrew North Eastern and seconded by the member for Kingston East and Port Royal (Opposition MP Phillip Paulwell). There was no objection, no other person was proposed, and the member from St Andrew East Rural, the Most Honourable Juliet Holness, was duly elected Speaker on September 23, 2023,” Grange said in a statement.

“The two-term member of parliament, who also served as Deputy Speaker, was elected to the Speaker’s chair on merit — not because of her spouse. It is wrong, and harks back to a bygone age, before women’s empowerment, to say that she, or any woman, should be disqualified from any post because of the job of her spouse,” she added.

When asked why the Opposition supported the election of Holness as House Speaker, Golding said this was done out of tradition and on the day in question, his members had no prior knowledge that this was going to be done.

Since then, Golding said “she has adopted a course of action where reports are not being presented and tabled on a timely basis… and she has not released the opinion of the attorney general, which was given to Parliament for the benefit of Parliament and Integrity Commission reports, some of them, which she has said are to be sent to an oversight committee”.

In the meantime, Golding said the question of whether Juliet Holness remains as House Speaker “is up to she and her husband (Andrew Holness)”.