Lower the temperature!

TWO former prominent Members of Parliament (MP) — Maxine Henry-Wilson of the People’s National Party (PNP) and Othneil Lawrence of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) — are appealing to politicians currently serving in the nation’s Parliament to “lower the temperature”, and bring civility back to the legislature.

The two have called for a reset in the Parliament, while highlighting the approaches taken by former prime ministers PJ Patterson and Bruce Golding who were able to maintain order during some of the most robust debates in the country’s recent history when they served in the Parliament.

Their appeal follows Tuesday night’s dust-up in the House of Representatives that saw two senior MPs having to be separated by their colleagues after they appeared to come close to exchanging blows. The two are Mikael Phillips, PNP MP for Manchester North Western, and JLP’s Desmond McKenzie, MP for Kingston Western, who’s also minister of local government and community development.