Opposition Leader Mark Golding speaking in Albert Town, South Trelawny on Sunday.
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Opposition Leader Mark Golding has said Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert’s resignation as Member of Parliament (MP) for South Trelawny last Friday had not been expected.
Dalrymple-Philibert bowed to mounting pressure and tendered her resignation as House Speaker and as MP, both with immediate effect.
She had been under pressure since Tuesday after a report from the Integrity Commission was made public, and which contained a recommendation that she be slapped with eight charges relative to her statutory declarations between 2015 and 2021.
The charges relate to breaches of the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act and the Integrity Commission Act, and are connected to the purchase of a 2015 Mercedes Benz on Government concession, which she did not include in her statutory declarations for six years.
But speaking at the People’s National Party’s (PNP) National Executive Council on Sunday at Albert Town High School in Trelawny – Dalrymple-Philibert territory – Golding said with the call for her to resign as House speaker, he did not see her resignation as MP coming.
“Coming with her resignation as the speaker was her resignation as Member of Parliament, which we were not expecting, but it has happened and we are glad Jamaican society stood up for what was right and ensured that the integrity of our Parliament was protected and preserved,” said Golding.
He renewed calls for Prime Minister Andrew Holness to make known the identities of six parliamentarians who are currently under probe by the Integrity Commission for perceived illicit enrichment.
