Founder and executive director of the Jamaican Association for Debating and Empowerment (JADE) Limited and political commentator Germaine Barrett has described concerns raised by the Opposition about the independence of House Speaker Juliet Holness as mere hypocrisy.

Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding, during his Budget presentation in Parliament, questioned the impartiality of Holness due to her spousal relationship with the prime minister.

“When the former Speaker was forced to resign as a result of an Integrity Commission investigation, the move to replace her with the wife of the prime minister, so that the head of Parliament is now the spouse of the head of the government, really does not sit well that the speaker must act independently of the government of the day. The Speaker is intended to be independent and must act independently of the government of the day. That is the tradition,” Golding said.

However, Barrett said the Opposition was in support of the appointment of the House Speaker knowing that she was the wife of the prime minister.

“The fact is that the Opposition was staunchly in support of it, declared so emphatically knowing that she was the wife of the prime minister, it is my view that many Jamaicans may find it much to do about nothing or an expression of hypocrisy on the part of Opposition, given the fact that at the point at which it was opportune for them to have raised concerns they never did. The response that they have given is that they were acting in convention, well, one doesn’t merely run government by convention; one runs the government based on what is appropriate and what is good for the decisions that is needed at the time,” Barrett said.

He said a lot of the steam from the Opposition’s concerns was lost due to their initial support of the appointment of the Speaker.

Holness was elected Speaker of the House in September of last year following the resignation of Marissa Dalrymple-Philibert following a ruling by the Integrity Commission.