'It could have been avoided', says PNP of Dalrymple-Philibert's resignation

 

The opposition People's National Party says the situation with House Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert could have ended differently if she had taken the initiative on Tuesday to step aside amid the revelation that she would be charged.

 

Mrs. Dalrymple-Phillibert on Thursday announced that she would tender her resignation as Speaker and Member of Parliament for South Trelawny.

 

Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson says he is not surprised that she has decided to resign as House Speaker following public backlash, since she did not have many options left.

 

"I am surprised at the resignation as Member of Parliament. I can't speak to what considerations would have gone into that. But I think it's regrettable that it ended this way because I believe it could have been avoided if the Speaker had taken a different course of action from Tuesday to recuse herself from the sitting and to take a leave of absence while the issues related to the Integrity Commission were being adjudicated," he reasoned. 

 

The Director of Corruption Prosecution has ruled that Mrs. Dalrymple-Philibert be charged in connection with allegations that she made a false statement in her statutory declarations filed over the period 2015 to 2021.

 

Not forced out ??????

 

Robert Morgan, Minister with responsibility for Information, said Mrs Dalrymple-Philibert was not forced to tender her resignation as Member of Parliament.

 

"She didn't feel that what she was going through and how she was being presented was fair and as such she decided to not continue," he said Thursday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines as he reacted to her move to exit representational politics. 

 

Asked whether government members had believed she should step aside as Speaker even temporarily, Mr. Morgan said discussions had been taking place about "permutations of things" but "there was no decision taken as yet".  

 

"Mama D, as I call her, made a decision in her own rights. She wasn't forced, she wasn't asked to do it and she has decided that she wants to end her political career," he reiterated. 

 

 

Political commentator Lloyd B. Smith believes Mrs. Dalrymple-Philibert's resignation as House Speaker and MP is "most welcome and timely" considering her mounting legal troubles. 

 

While noting that she should have made the decision to step aside from the outset, Mr. Smith argued that good sense had eventually prevailed. 

 

"I think it would have helped to diffuse what was becoming a very flagrant situation which was affecting the overall politics of the country in a very negative way. It would also have had international implication in terms of Jamaica's image as a democracy that has lived up to certain desirable expectations. I think she has done the right thing," he said, adding that there should be "more of this type of accountability coming from our elected representatives". 

 

 

But Councillor for the Warsop Division and Mayor of Falmouth Colin Gager has said the impending departure of Marisa Dalrymple-Phillibert will create a void in the constituency of South Trelawny.

 

Mayor Gager said the councillors within the constituency tried to dissuade her from stepping down. 

 

"We have grown so accustomed to Mrs. Philibert. I can take up the phone in the dead of the night and I can say 'Listen, I need some advice here.' I know that that line will be still opened but I would rather if it was opened as the Member of Parliament and I'm hoping that something can be done to really persuade her to stay on," he told Beyond the Headlines host Dionne Jackson Miller on Thursday evening.