Gender Minister Olivia Grange has expressed her objection to recent comments made by Opposition Leader Mark Golding concerning Juliet Holness, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Golding’s budget presentation on Tuesday (March 19), went down a slippery slope after government MPs including Prime Minister Andrew Holness walked out of the chamber due to comments made by Golding about the potential lapse in objectivity with the position of house speaker requires, due to the husband-and-wife nature of Holness’ relationship.

“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, Grange, the acting house leader, says Golding’s comments are ‘disturbing’ and ‘hypocritical’ in questioning a legitimate election of the house speaker.

“The leader of the opposition has questioned a legitimate election of the speaker that was undertaken by the entire house only by some members of the house. By his statement, the leader of the Opposition has brought the house into disrepute,” Grange said.

“The Standing Orders provide the qualification and process for a member of parliament to be elected to the office of the speaker. It outlines that a member has to be willing to serve in the role and must not be a minister of parliamentary secretary. When the chair became vacant, in keeping with the standing orders, the member of St Andrew East Rural was proposed by the member of St Andrew North Eastern and seconded by the member of Kingston East and Port Royal. There was no objection, no other person was proposed and the member of St Andrew East Rural, the most honourable Juliet Holness, was duly elected Speaker on September 26, 2023,” she added.

Grange further argued that there was no objection to the speaker’s election.

“It is disturbing and hypocritical that after more than five months after her election that the leader of the opposition should so spectacularly question the election of this eminently qualified woman,” the gender minister said.