Dalrymple-Philibert’s conscience led her back to Trelawny South

Western Bureau:

While she still has a court case to answer regarding charges recommended by the Integrity Commission, Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert, who will contest the November 22 by-election in Trelawny South on the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) ticket, says she is acting on her conscience and her love for the people.

Following a damning IC report which recommended that she be criminally charged, Dalrymple Philibert resigned as both Speaker of the House of Representative and member of parliament (MP) for Trelawny South in September 2023, saying she was acting on her conscience, although she was urged by parliamentary colleagues on both sides not to.

“In the same way it was my conscience that decided that I should resign ... it is that conscience that I live with now that said, a by-election is called, the people want me, my party has no difficulty with me representing them in the by-election, and my conscience tells me to go and do it,” Dalrymple Philibert said in a recent radio interview. “That (her conscience) is what I live by, I can only live by the voice that I hear … and that is why I am comfortable (with my decision).”

Dalrymple-Philibert will be nominated tomorrow for the upcoming by-election, but it could be a somewhat lonely affair as the People’s National Party (PNP), who has selected funeral home director Paul Patmore as their candidate for the constituency, will not be contesting the by-election, saying they prefer to wait on the general election, which is constitutionally due next year.

While Dalrymple-Philibert, who has been elected as the MP for Trelawny South in four consecutive general elections – 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2020 – admits to having bouts of ‘malice and quarrels’ with her Trelawny South constituents, she says that, at the end of the day, they are one united family.

“We quarrel all the while, we malice each other all the while, they say I am miserable, and yes, I am … but we have bonded as a family, the labour party has bonded with me as their leader,” said Dalrymple-Philibert. “… I am a committed member of the Jamaica Labour Party, and I support the leadership of my prime minister (Andrew Holness).”

Regarding criticisms that she should not be seeking to return to representational politics with the matter surrounding the IC report unresolved, Dalrymple-Philibert said her resignation was primarily sparked by the IC’s recommendation that she should be criminally charged. However, on account of attending court for a year on the matter and that element not coming up, she now sees the matter in a different way.

“I resigned from the Parliament, from my constituency, from everything at the time when the Integrity Commission recommended that I be charged criminally. There are many persons on both sides of the aisle that thought I didn’t have to do it, some even thought my action was stupid … I know I didn’t have to do it … my conscience told me at that time that that was the responsible thing that I had to do.”

Dalrymple-Philibert, who said she stayed away from Trelawny South after she resigned and only returned there on the eve of the recent local government elections, said the response she got from the people was overwhelming and made her decision to return to them easy.

“Three weeks before the local government election was called, I went to south Trelawny and the response to my leadership was overwhelming. I couldn’t get over it,” said Dalrymple-Philibert, who admitted that, prior to that, she was being hounded and begged to come back.

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