KINGSTON, Jamaica—If the parliamentary Opposition had anticipated any change to how Speaker of the House of Representatives Juliet Holness manages the sittings after the near brawl that unfolded on November 3, those hopes were effectively dashed last Thursday when senior members of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) closed ranks behind her and voiced their full support for the way she has conducted herself in the Parliament.

According to Leader of Government Business in the House Floyd Green, the speaker has presided in a “fair and just” manner. He also described her as being impatient of any nonsense.

“You have to come a Parliament prepared to work inna Parliament,” said Green as he addressed the annual West Kingston Constituency Conference at the Tivoli Gardens High School.

Deputy Leader of the JLP Desmond McKenzie went further. The West Kingston MP suggested that Holness was facing pushback and disrespect from Opposition Members of Parliament (MP) because of her name.

“Why is it that they can’t respect the rules of the Parliament? We recognise women in this country because most women in Jamaica who have been appointed to key positions …that was done under the government of the Jamaica Labour Party,” McKenzie said.

He assured Holness that, “As a part of my Area Council, we will defend your integrity and that of the role of speaker of the House of Representatives”.

McKenzie added that, “no amount of cas cas” can change his position. He also accused the Opposition People’s National Party of wanting to usurp power onto itself although the Jamaican people returned the JLP to office in “resounding” fashion after the September 2025 election.

“And you’re coming now after the people didn’t give you the power, you want to amend the standing orders …,” said McKenzie.

For those who have argued that Holness should not be speaker because she is married to Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, McKenzie addressed them directly.

“It would not be the first time in the Parliament where the speaker have a family [member] sitting in the chair. Michael Peart was speaker and my very good friend the late Dean Peart [his brother] was a senior Cabinet minister. Nobody fussed about it,” McKenzie noted.

“Only because she name Juliet Holness and because Andrew Holness is prime minister and they don’t believe that anybody who is not from the same vein that they come from can lead this country,” McKenzie added. He reminded that “the JLP was built out of the blood and the sweat and tears of the working class people of this country”.

For her part, the speaker, who also addressed the conference, said she merely follows the rules that govern the Parliament, the standing orders.

Holness noted that when she was first appointed speaker, she received bipartisan support. “By the time third term come, some people never so happy again. Some people up in dem feelings fi true,” she remarked. She said she has always been a disciplined person and shared that having read the standing orders, she decided that in the same way every Jamaican has to follow the laws of the land, she would insist that parliamentarians follow the standing orders.

Meanwhile, the MP for St Andrew Eastern Fayval Williams in throwing her support behind Holness, remarked that the speaker has the PNP “under heavy manners”.

Said Williams:“The PNP would have you believe that nothing is going on; they would have you focused on the speaker of the House. But guess what? She has brought a lot of discipline to Parliament. Once upon a time people used to get up and chat, chat, chat. Now she have dem under heavy manners”.

The relationship between the speaker and Opposition members has been testy at best, and antagonistic at worst, as was seen by the near brawl between Government and Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) at the end of the sitting of the House on November 3.

On that occasion, following what the Opposition said was biased behavior by the speaker, Opposition MP Mikael Phillips had to be separated from Government member Desmond McKenzie. Phillips has since apologised for hurling expletives at McKenzie who he said told him about his deceased mother twice. McKenzie has denied telling Phillips about his mother and has not apologised as he has insisted he did nothing wrong.

-Lynford Simpson