Golding pushes back at House Speaker over Crown Lands bill

Opposition Leader Mark Golding is maintaining that he was barred by House Speaker Juliet Holness from bringing a private member’s bill to adjust the law on Crown lands, arguing that she acted outside of her role.

In her opening remarks at the resumption of the House of Representatives this afternoon, the Speaker accused Golding of misrepresenting the facts and said that the claims he made at the PNP’s annual conference on Sunday in Westmoreland, where he stated that he made two attempts to have the bill officially tabled in Parliament before the summer recess in July, but was blocked from doing so by the Speaker of the House, were not true.

“Following review, two concerns were resolved; one remained unresolved, that is, one relating to section 55(3) of the Constitution of Jamaica. He was advised of the remaining concern and of the change required to address it. That change had not been made when the House sat on the following day, July 14th, and the matter was therefore left to continue upon our return. I have since noted public statements made by the Leader of the Opposition on two occasions that he was blocked by the Speaker from tabling the bill. That is not true. The Speaker expressed no view on the merits of the proposed bill,” the Speaker told the House.