KINGSTON, Jamaica – Opposition Leader Mark Golding has labelled the walkout by Government Members of Parliament (MPs) during his contribution to the Budget Debate on Tuesday as a “sad day for our democracy.”

The walkout, which was led by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Tuesday, occurred after Golding criticised the appointment of the prime minister’s wife, Juliet Holness, as Speaker of the House.

Holness was appointed Speaker after former Speaker Marissa Dalrymple-Philibert was forced to resign following a damning report from the Integrity Commission.

“Today was a sad day for our democracy in the sense that for the first time the Government in Parliament walked out during a budget debate and prevented the Leader of the Opposition from completing his presentation. Denying the Parliament a quorum so the Speaker had no choice but to end the proceedings, and I as Leader of the Opposition was unable to finish my presentation,” Golding said.

“I didn’t say anything offensive about anybody. I made a point of principle, which is that it doesn’t sit well with the tradition in our Parliamentary system, which requires the Speaker of the House to be independent of the Government. For the wife of the prime minister, who is the head of Government to be the Speaker, which is respectively the head of Parliament, these concerns are not just my concerns. Many Jamaicans feel that way,” he added.

Golding did not get to finish his presentation as, with just 14 members on the Opposition benches, they lacked the required quorum of 16 members for the sitting to continue.