Dalrymple Philibert returned as JLP candidate in South Trelawny

By Racquel Porter    

 

A year after former House Speaker and Member of Parliament for Trelawny Southern Marisa Dalrymple Philibert resigned as MP, she will be nominated next Wednesday to represent the constituency on a Jamaica Labour Party ticket.

 

Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Wednesday morning announced that by-elections will be held for the Trelawny Southern and St. Andrew North Western constituencies on November 22.

 

Councillor Duane Smith was named in August by the Jamaica Labour Party to succeed Dr. Nigel Clarke in St. Andrew North Western.

 

Speaking at Wednesday morning's post-Cabinet press briefing, Mr. Holness said Mrs. Dalrymple Philibert's selection in Trelawny Southern is supported by popular demand. 

 

"It's difficult to speak for Marisa as to why she resigned and then she's coming back. I'm certain she will give an explanation, but my own view is that she really respected the perspectives of the public accusations that were laid in the public domain, and she thought it was the honourable thing to do [to resign]," he said, adding that she may have been swayed to reconsider due to popular support from constituents who "kept demanding that she return".

 

"So it's really the will of the people, and we will see the will of the people exercised in the by-election," he said. 

 

Scores of placard-bearing JLP supporters in Trelawny Southern protested on Monday, urging their party to re-select Mrs. Dalrymple Philibert as its representative in the constituency. 

  

The call came more than a year after the former member of Parliament tendered her resignation in September 2023.

 

She resigned after the publication of an Integrity Commission report and subsequent ruling that she be charged for allegedly making a false statement in her statutory declarations.

 

Responding to why he waited more than a year to call the by-election, Mr. Holness said decisions have to be strategic. 

 

"You want to be sure that whenever you call an election, you are in a good position to win it, and that's just the reality. You want to be sure that you are in a position that your government can continue. That doesn't speak to any disenfranchisement of the democratic process. It is the nature of our democracy," he asserted. 

 

He also sought to assure that the people of Trelawny Southern "were never deprived of any representational benefits" during the period without an MP, noting that provisions were made "to ensure that whatever benefits that would come to constituents who are in need, or whatever service they needed, that those services would continue". 

 

Nomination day for the by-elections will be on November 6.