“I, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, got calls from all walks of life — people from the opposite side of the fence, parts of civil society, everybody [said], ‘Marisa why did you resign? We didn’t expect you to resign.’ And now that I have returned, some of the same voices have started condemning [me, asking], ‘Why have you returned’?” she told a throng of green-clad supporters who gathered in Albert Town Square to hear from the woman they fondly refer to as ‘Mama D’.

“My only answer to that is that it appears that my resignation created in the minds of persons that there was an opportunity to change the political structure in South Trelawny,” she added, a clear reference to the People’s National Party’s Paul Patmore who will face off against her in the general election that is constitutionally due less than a year from now.

Dalrymple-Philibert won Trelawny Southern in four consecutive elections but stepped aside as Speaker of the House and Member of Parliament 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.

In announcing that she would be the candidate for the JLP in the upcoming by-election, party leader Andrew Holness said the move was in response to constituents’ calls for her return. The PNP have opted not to field a candidate but she will face off against former JLP councillor for the Albert Town Division, Lloyd “Mozie” Gillings who has thrown his hat in the ring as an Independent. She has beaten him twice and he has also lost two attempts to be an elected councillor.

On Wednesday, in a strong show of support from the JLP hierarchy, Dalrymple-Philibert and the gyrating throng of party faithful were joined by the party’s general secretary, Dr Horace Chang; Members of Parliament Audley Shaw, Homer Davis, Everald Warmington, Frank Witter, along with Senator Charles Sinclair and the four JLP councillors whose divisions are in Trelawny Southern.

After being nominated Dalrymple-Philibert told journalists how gut-wrenching it had been to walk away from the constituency in September 2023.

“The hardest decision I ever made was to resign as Member of Parliament for South Trelawny. It was difficult to resign as Speaker of the House [Representative] but more so the decision to resign as the Member of Parliament for South Trelawny was the most difficult. I have worked for the past 17 years in this constituency. What I have developed in South Trelawny goes way beyond representational politics. We are a family here,” she told reporters.

She said she resigned because it was the right thing to do.

“I resigned because at the time the Integrity Commission recommended that I be criminally charged, I felt, and I still do, that it was the responsible thing for me to do at that time. There was no law to say that I had to resign, there was nobody forcing me to resign. In fact, several members of my own team asked me not to consider resignation. But I always say that I have to be guided by my own conscience. When I go to bed at nights I must be able to sleep comfortably,” she said.

“The same conscience that took me and brought me to a point where I resigned is the same conscience now that tells me I must return to my family in South Trelawny and serve them. I am a committed member of the Jamaica Labour Party,” she added.

Dalrymple-Philibert said she stayed away from the constituency until the last local government election when she guided the four JLP candidates to victory over the PNP.

Now, fully back in the thick of things, she on Wednesday poked fun at what she said was flip-flopping demonstrated by Gillings and Patmore. She said at one stage the latter was an executive member of her team.

“I don’t like to call people’s names and I am not going to, but the Independent who nominated today…it is really an interesting situation because years ago I brought him into the political arena and he served with me as a Jamaica Labour Party councillor. And that is the only time that he has won in the parish council election, and ever won — under the Jamaica Labour Party banner,” she said.

“But hear the true story: the gentleman who has now been named as the People’s National Party… candidate in South Trelawny also worked with me in South Trelawny under the Jamaica Labour Party banner. He was part of my team; he was the transportation manager of the Jamaica Labour Party. We are really special in South Trelawny because we produce people all over. The candidate for the People’s National Party has been an Independent and a JLP representative and the Independent today has been a PNP candidate and JLP candidate,” Dalrymple-Philibert quipped.