ALBERT TOWN, Trelawny— In the latest call for their former Member of Parliament Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert to return to the seat she walked away from more than a year ago, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters in Trelawny Southern thronged Albert Town Square on Monday.

They also called on Jamaica Labour Party Leader and Prime Minister Andrew Holness to ensure the woman they affectionately call Mama D is selected as their representative in time for the party’s annual conference next month.

“The main reason we are here today is calling upon the party to appoint back Mrs Philibert as the candidate for the next election. She has done a lot of work in Southern Trelawny from 2007 up to the time she resigned in 2023. Her hard work in Southern Trelawny [is] a legacy that we want to continue to build on. We can’t afford for her not to be our candidate in the next general election,” insisted Homre Dawkins.

“Every election she won, she won it with an increased margin,” he added.

Tracy-Ann Hewitt chimed in, “We need back our mother!”

They were at pains to point out that they were on the streets asking for what they want, but respectfully.

“We are here today, not protesting, but we are appealing to our party to give us back Mama D. We want back Mama D. There are so many [things] still left to be done; so many programmes that she’s started and to [be] implemented, and we need these work and these programmes to be completed under her watch,” one woman who identified herself as Anneisha told the Jamaica Observer.

Councillor for the Ulster Spring Division Liston Wauchope and his counterpart in the Albert Town Division Devon Davis were among those gathered.

“This is not a protest; we are asking our party to return to us at this time Mama D. The truth is, we have been without a MP for over a year and what is also true is that the Government has provided supervision, through Dr Horace Chang, and the constituency has been benefiting from the various programmes of the Government. But, as we are aware, Dr Chang has his own responsibilities as a MP, he’s also our general secretary and, most of all, our minister of security. When we are looking at the crime numbers, they are going down, and we want to relinquish him of this role here [so] that he can keep his hands on ensuring that the crime go down and give to is our Member of Parliament,” said a diplomatic Wauchope.

Davis agreed.

“I am here standing with the people that you see here. Why they are here this morning is not a protest but [rather] to get the Government to understand that we want our MP — and the choice of the people is Mama D. There [are] a lot of things she had done, and the people want the progress to continue,” he said.

Dalrymple-Philibert won Trelawny Southern in four consecutive elections but stepped aside as Speaker of the House and MP in September 2023, after a ruling by the Integrity Commission’s Director of Corruption Prosecution Keisha Prince-Kameka that she be charged for running afoul of the Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act, 1973, in filing her statutory declarations.

Dalrymple-Philibert recently appeared in court at the preliminary hearing for the matter but the case was rescheduled until December.

Earlier this month, in her first appearance on a political stage since her resignation, she declared her unwavering devotion and support for her “family” in the constituency.

In August, speaking from a political platform in Albert Town Square during his presentation by the People’s National Party (PNP) as its representative for the upcoming elections, Paul Patmore made a similar call on Holness to name Dalrymple-Philibert as its candidate. He had his own reasons for the call.

“Tell him that the people of South Trelawny realise that he can’t find a representative, but we are going to help him to find one. And we are saying, Mr Holness, ‘We know it is rough but send us Marisa Dalrymple. That is the one that we in South Trelawny want to give a [political] beating. We want to give her a beating,’ ” a pumped-up Patmore said then.