KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prime Minister Andrew Holness explained to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Pearnel Charles, yesterday, that his absence from the chamber during the Opposition walk-out was due to meetings he was having in his office.

“It was always my intention to make a statement,” Holness told the speaker during his statement to the House on the Government’s multimillion-dollar bushing programme, which the Opposition claimed was used to get votes in the November 28 local government election.

The Opposition walked out of the chamber yesterday, following the failure of Leader of Opposition Business Phillip Paulwell and Leader of the House Derrick Smith to agree on how to proceed with the issue of a statement from Holness on the controversial programme.

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In explaining, Holness noted that the sitting began with members paying tribute to the late Cuban President Fidel Castro. His intention was to deal with the matter after debates on the agenda were concluded. However, the debates ended much earlier than expected after the walk-out left no Opposition member to respond.

Holness said that at the time of the walk-out he was inside his Gordon House office, discussing the bushing issue with the CEO of the National Works Agency (NWA) and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation.

“At the time I was waiting on confirmation (on the funding for an additional $200 million works programme for MPs), to my great disappointment,” he said.

Balford Henry