Paulwell to seek emergency meeting over resignation of Deputy House Clerk

By Kimone Witter  

 

 

Member of the House Committee of Parliament, Phillip Paulwell, says he will be requesting an urgent emergency meeting of all members to address the resignation of Deputy Clerk to the Houses of Parliament, Christopher Cowan amid allegations of a contentious work environment.

 

The House Committee is comprised of all members of the House of Representatives and is tasked with reviewing specific subsidiary legislation, regulations, or localised House matters.

 

Describing the treatment he faced during his two-year tenure in office as "retaliatory", Mr. Cowan listed a series of concerns among the reasons for his resignation with immediate effect on Monday.

 

Speaking with Radio Jamaica News, Mr. Paulwell, who is also Leader of Opposition Business in the House, said he will be writing to the Leader of Government Business Floyd Green on Tuesday in his capacity as member of the House Committee.

 

He said the interpersonal issues affecting the Parliamentary staff require immediate intervention. 

 

"My first reaction was, oh, not again, because this is not the first that we are hearing of issues affecting staff. And I just believe that we as the legislators need to provide greater guidance and be a lot more proactive in what is happening now at the staff level, because if that is dysfunctional, the entire Parliament is going to be dysfunctional," he reasoned.

 

The former Deputy Clerk, in his five-page letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Juliet Holness described a "contentious" environment in which he said he was made to operate, the removal and denial of privileges, as well as the "retaliatory approach" of Clerk to the Houses Colleen Lowe.

 

The resignation letter also outlined numerous occasions when Mr. Cowan said his office and position had been "undermined" by Ms. Lowe following differing opinions on matters and questions about process and procedure.