KINGSTON, Jamaica – Veteran Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Member of Parliament (MP), Pearnel Charles, today assumes one of the few positions he has never held in Parliament: Speaker of the House.

In his “thank you” message to the House this morning, Charles is expected to reiterate his call for a “different Parliament”, in terms of attendance, punctuality and reclaiming respect for the chair, as part of his legacy.

Having spent approximately 27 years as an MP in the House of Representatives, and eight years as a Senator, totalling some 35 years in Parliament since 1972, he believes he can use this experience to improve standards in the House.

Charles was made a Senator the same year his main trade union rival, Michael Manley, became Prime Minister. He was also Councillor for the Denham Town division of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC).

In his first term as a Senator (1972-1976), he was remanded at Up Park Camp during the 1976 State of Emergency. However, while he was still in detention, he was re-appointed to the Senate by then JLP leader, Edward Seaga.

Charles was slated to contest the South West St Andrew seat currently held by Leader of the Opposition, Portia Simpson Miller, in 1976, but was unable to do so because of his detention. Eventually his colleague trade unionist, Joseph McPherson, contested the seat and the JLP lost it for the first time, since it was created in 1959, to Simpson Miller and the PNP.

He was elected to the House of Representatives, for the first time in 1980 as part of the JLP landslide and represented Eastern St Thomas up to 1993, when he lost to Dr Fenton Ferguson. He lost again in 1997 in North Central Clarendon to George Lyn, but turned the tables on Lyn in 2002 and has held the seat since.

Balford Henry