KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Speaker of the House, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, who is also the Member of Parliament for the constituency of South Trelawny, tendered her resignation on Thursday amid mounting pressure about eight charges laid against her recently by the Integrity Commission (IC).
“Since the Integrity Commission has decided to charge me criminally for an omission, I have considered the damage this has done to my reputation and have decided to tender my resignation both as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and Member of Parliament for South Trelawny, with immediate effect,” she said in a statement on Thursday.
“I wish to state categorically that my decision is entirely voluntary and not at the request of anyone. I also want to say and emphasize that I remain a loyal and committed member and supporter of the Jamaica Labour Party, particularly the Andrew Holness Administration. I will continue to render assistance in whatever way I can, and I will always support my party.
“What has happened to me could have happened to any other Member of Parliament, public servant, or civil servant. As a woman maintaining a family and as a Member of Parliament, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Managing Partner of a law firm, the toll it has taken on me is immense,” she added.
The IC ruled that she be slapped with eight charges about her statutory declarations over seven years.
The commission’s director of investigation, Kevon Stephenson, in a report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, recommended that the information be referred to the prime minister “for him to take such disciplinary and administrative actions which both recognize the seriousness of Dalrymple-Philibert’s conduct” and to deter recurrence.
The ruling follows an investigation by the commission about a motor vehicle that Dalrymple-Philibert had purchased through a concession afforded to legislators and which she failed to declare in her filings.
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