Holness didn't want to hear call to 'take away himself' - Golding

Opposition Leader Mark Golding is claiming that Prime Minister Andrew Holness led a walkout of Parliament on Tuesday afternoon to avoid hearing criticisms about the lack of certification of his income and assets and a request for him to "take away himself". 

Golding made the argument at a press briefing at his office in St Andrew, after government members walked out on his budget presentation after he claimed that Holness' wife, MP Juliet 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". 

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. 

"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."

The Opposition supported Juliet's nomination as speaker last September. 

But Golding is now arguing that his side "was not consulted" before the moment of election and, further, that the clerk gave a script to Leader of Opposition Business in the House, Phillip Paulwell, on the basis that it was "tradition" for the Speaker to get bipartisan support. But he said Juliet Holness' 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."

He argued that Mrs Holness' behaviour since taking office in relation to the treatment of reports from the Auditor General's Department and her not sharing a legal opinion that formed the basis of her ruling on how reports of the department and the Integrity Commission are to be handled is "egregious" and "inconsistent with transparency". 

"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. 

The Parliament issued the speech and it showed that Golding was going on to criticise Holness for imposing a gag on his members from talking about the Integrity Commission's investigation into alleged illicit enrichment by six members of parliament. It's not clear on which side of the parliament those members sit.

Golding was also going to speak on the non-certification of the prime minister's income and assets 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," Golding said in completing his speech outside Gordon House. 

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

Golding was not definitive when asked whether Mrs Holness should step down as speaker.

"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".

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