MONTEGO BAY, St James — Political commentator Lloyd B Smith says Prime Minister Andrew Holness should have taken the high road instead of walking out of the nation’s Parliament on Tuesday.

He is, in the meantime, urging the Opposition to show up for Holness’s address on Thursday and for both sides to resist the urge to engage in a game of one-upmanship.

“[Holness] has to remind himself that he is the prime minister, the first among equals, and in that capacity he should have risen above the fray and he should have taken the high ground,” Smith, who was once elected to the Parliament on a People’s National Party ticket, told the
Jamaica Observer when asked to comment on the issue.

“To have walked out of Parliament is like a king demitting his throne temporarily and leaving, in real terms, chaos. That was, to me, regrettable, and I think maybe in the long run, in retrospect, he may well see the error of his ways,” argued Smith, who is publisher of the
Western Mirror.

During Opposition Leader Mark Golding’s contribution to the budget debate on Tuesday, he drew the ire of Government members when he criticised last September’s election of Juliet Holness, the prime minister’s wife, as the House Speaker.

Even though the Opposition had raised no objection at the time, Golding on Tuesday argued that the move did “not sit well” with them. The tradition, he said, is that the Speaker must act independently of the Government of the day.

In Smith’s opinion, what took place in Parliament was unnecessary.

“The fact is that there is always what we call the cut and thrust of Parliament, especially during a debate, and I think the prime minister overreacted. The best way to have dealt with it is when he makes his own presentation at which point he could give his side of the story and have a meaningful response. Because listening very carefully to what the Opposition leader said, there was nothing derogatory or defamatory in his remarks. He was simply questioning whether or not her, being his wife, if there was any likelihood that there could be some amount of a grey area there. For example, he mentioned the whole business of elite six, and the fact that the attorney general had given an opinion on a certain matter which has so far been withheld, and so forth,” noted Smith.

He said while the prime minister may be hurt by how Golding tackled the matter, as the Opposition leader, he was well within his right to raise the issue.

However, Professor of Culture, Gender and Society Donna Hope disagreed.

“Golding is feeling the kind of rising inflection that comes with his own campaign. He’s getting the kind of feeling that is pushing him upwards and he’s responding to that. I don’t think it was warranted at that point in time for him to raise the kind of objections he had,” she told the Observer.

“Introducing it at this point in time, it’s clearly a campaigning move. So, it was not warranted. But of course, the response of the Jamaica Labour Party majority in Parliament was also not warranted,” she said.

Hope also noted the significance of the current political atmosphere, with the Opposition performing better than expected in February’s local government election and a general election constitutionally due by September 2025.

She said that while all eyes — nationally and regionally — will be on the prime minister’s presentation, the Opposition will not be able to derail it.

“Even if there is disruption and shouting and banging of chairs and tables, it will not work out for the People’s National Party (PNP)… because we will have a full quorum on the Government side,” explained Hope.

For his part, Smith opined that it would be unwise for the PNP to take the same approach as Holness did on Tuesday.

“I would not advise the Opposition to go after a tit-for-tat scenario. I think once Parliament is again prorogued and is in session, the Opposition should be there and should give the prime minister the respect that he deserves in making his presentation. I would hate to think that what we’re looking at is a domino effect where the Opposition, based on what the prime minister may say in his presentation, decides to walk out. I wouldn’t support that at all,” he said.

“Both the Opposition leader and the prime minister now need to realise that they are not persons that are there in their personal capacity. They are the people’s representatives. They are our national leaders and they must act in a mature and professional way and not like little boys playing marbles and picking up their marbles when they are losing. We have to see a greater level of national pride and the whole question of us as a country reaching a stage where we can be respectful of our politicians and how they operate in our best interest,” argued Smith.

He anticipates that, within the context of next year’s polls, there are going to be many such dustups in the future. He called for the role of the political ombudsman to be fully institutionalised, in addition to the hammering out of some kind of agreement between the Opposition and the Government on the rules of engagement going forward.

“There are going to be many, many such issues unfolding in the future, and it’s going to take a great deal of political maturity and a sense of patriotism among our politicians to be able to look at the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is what kind of Jamaica do we want, especially for the young ones who are watching us and expected to be the future leaders of this country,” stated Smith.