Woman in charge!

FOR THE second time in the history of Jamaica’s bicameral legislature, a woman has been installed as speaker of the House of Representatives.

Marisa Dalrymple Philibert, a first-term Jamaica Labour Party member of parliament for Trelawny South, was yesterday elevated to the speaker’s chair after being designated by House leader Andrew Holness and seconded by former speaker Delroy Chuck, without challenge.

The People’s National Party‘s (PNP) Violet Neilson, who created history in 1997 when she was selected House speaker, held that position until 2002 under the then P.J. Patterson administration.

Meanwhile, St Catherine South Central MP Sharon Hay-Webster turned up late at yesterday’s sitting, changing her customary seat on the opposition benches and relocating to a new seat at the far end of the Opposition side. Hay-Webster, a third-term MP, had resigned from the PNP following a fallout with the party’s hierarchy.

This came in the wake of WikiLeaks revelations that she had withdrawn her renunciation letter at the US Embassy, without informing the public that she had backed off an earlier pledge to give up her American citizenship.

Source: The Gleaner