Member of Parliament for St Andrew East Rural, Juliet Holness, has been reappointed as Speaker of the House of Representatives, despite strong objections from the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP).
Holness, who previously served as Deputy Speaker from 2020 to 2023 and as Speaker since September last year, was sworn in on Thursday at the official opening of the 2025 parliamentary term. Heroy Clarke was also returned as Deputy Speaker, while Floyd Green was named the new Leader of Government Business in the House.
In the Upper House, Senator Tom Tavares Finson was re-elected President. Thirteen Government Senators and eight Opposition Senators have already taken their oaths, with Members of Parliament currently being sworn in. The proceedings were guided by Clerk to the Houses of Parliament, Colleen Lowe.
The PNP had earlier declared that it would not support the reappointment of either Holness or former Speaker Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, arguing that the office demands impartiality and fairness that, it said, had been undermined in recent years.
“The Speaker must serve the people of Jamaica as an impartial umpire of parliamentary proceedings, not partisan interests,” said PNP chairperson Dr Angela Brown Burke in a Wednesday release. She pointed to delays in the tabling of reports from the Auditor General and Integrity Commission as evidence that trust in the Speaker’s office had eroded.
The governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) later rejected the Opposition’s position. JLP General Secretary Dr Horace Chang dismissed the PNP’s objections as “baseless and spurious,” accusing the party of trying to block “two eminently qualified women” from leadership.
“We will not take directives from the PNP or any group as we execute our new mandate to govern Jamaica with confidence, purpose and humility,” Chang said, adding that the Opposition’s stance “smacks of misogyny and arrogance” at a time when the country should be supporting women in leadership.
Both Dalrymple-Philibert and Holness have previously held the Speaker’s chair. Dalrymple-Philibert served between 2020 and 2023, while Holness assumed the role in September 2023.
The opening of Parliament marks the formal start of a new legislative term, with the JLP reaffirming its majority control and the PNP sharpening its stance on accountability in the House.
