Newly-elected President of the People’s National Party (PNP) Mark Golding is signalling that although few in numbers, the parliamentary Opposition has every intention of keeping the Andrew Holness-led Government with its super majority in the House of Representatives, on its toes.

Golding, who on Saturday polled 1,740 votes to defeat South East St Ann Member of Parliament Lisa Hanna, who received 1,350 votes in a special delegates conference to secure the presidency of the party, is promising strong representation on behalf of the Jamaican people.

“We have to be cohesive, we have to caucus, we have to be prepared,” Golding told Loop News on Saturday as he visited the Cedar Grove Academy in St Catherine where he interacted with delegates while voting was still underway.

“I think we’ve achieved some things already, even in the decision of the prime minister to change the protocol and convention so that the Opposition no longer chairs all of the sessional committees of the Parliament, we resisted that stoutly. We got support in the media and we got support from civil society and we are pleased about that,” said Golding.

“He (Holness) has been a little stubborn in retracting it but he will pay a price for that because people don’t like arrogance in power and he has acted arrogantly with that one,” added Golding who will be the next Opposition leader.

During the first sitting of the parliament to mark the new term on September 29, the Jamaica Labour Party government, with its 35-seat majority, having won 49 seats to the 14 secured by the PNP, announced that it was breaking with a 13-year-old tradition and would retake chairmanship of four of the sessional committees. The practice was instituted in 2007 by then Prime Minister, Bruce Golding who had insisted that all key sessional committees be chaired by Opposition members to ensure transparency.

When Portia Simpson Miller led the PNP to victory in December 2011, the practice continued with the sessional committees being chaired by Opposition members. The Holness Administration of 2016 to 2020 also continued the practice before deciding to reverse it with his most recent victory at the polls.

The decision means the Economy and Production; Internal and External Affairs; Human Resource and Social Development; and Infrastructure and Physical Development committees will be chaired by government members. The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, corruption watchdog National Integrity Action and the Jamaica Council of Churches have all urged the government to reconsider its decision but it has not relented.

Meanwhile, Golding said the Opposition will continue to ensure that it is prepared for legislation. He noted that submissions made by Opposition members on the Dogs (Liability for Attacks) Act 2020 has necessitated changes to the document.

“That is the trend that we hope to follow, we want to constantly be vigorous and rigorous and well prepared so that we can defend the rights of the Jamaican people in Parliament which is the role of the Opposition,” Golding stated.