Jamaica House Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert has tendered her resignation from the post and as a member of Parliament for Trelawny Southern following charges filed by the Integrity Commission in relation to her statutory declarations for seven years.
On Tuesday, the commission tabled a report in Parliament, which revealed it had opened an investigation in relation to a motor vehicle that Dalrymple-Philibert had purchased through a government concession, but that which she failed to declare in her statutory declarations filings to the Integrity Commission.
All Jamaican public officials and Parliamentarians are required by law to submit a declaration of assets, liabilities, and income annually to the commission.
The commission’s Director of Complaints Craig Beresford raised concerns that Dalrymple-Philibert broke several laws by virtue of failing to disclose her ownership of the vehicle.
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In the report, the director of investigation stated that he was in possession of a letter of response dated March 29, 2022, from the House Speaker in which she had indicated that she did not own the vehicle in question: a 2015 Mercedes Benz GLA 250.
However, he said evidence obtained from Tax Administration Jamaica, Ministry of Finance, Jamaica Customs, and Sagicor Jamaica Limited, confirmed that the said motor vehicle was acquired and registered in Dalrymple-Philibert’s name “from 2015 until its divestment in May 2022.”
The House Speaker was later slapped with four counts of breaching Section 15(1)(b) of the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act, 1973 for making a false statement in a statutory declaration covering the period 2015 to 2017, and an additional four counts of breaches in relation to Section 43(2)(a) of the Integrity Commission Act, 2017 for making a false statement in a statutory declaration covering the period 2018 to 2020.
In Parliament on Tuesday, Dalrymple-Philibert said she “did not knowingly misrepresent the position to the Integrity Commission; it was a genuine oversight.”
Resignation was ‘entirely voluntary’
In a statement on Thursday, she released a statement saying: “I maintain to this day, that the omission of the vehicle was a genuine oversight on my part. There would have been no allegations against my name had I included the vehicle in my declaration, therefore, I had no motive to have deliberately omitted it. 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.”
Dalrymple-Philibert said that her decision was “entirely voluntary, and not at the request of anyone,” adding that she remains “a loyal and committed member and supporter of the Jamaica Labour Party, and more particularly to the Andrew Holness Administration.”
“I look forward to the trial of the matter for which the Integrity Commission has ruled that I be charged, to be concluded in a court of law rather than a Court of Public Opinion. As I stated in the House of Representative on Tuesday, September 19, 2023, I have nothing to hide, and I did not knowingly mislead the Integrity Commission, it was a genuine oversight,” the statement read.
Dalrymple-Philibert said she will continue to support her party in any way she can and thanked her constituency for their “unwavering support.”
