Michael Abrahams | The bill, the Speaker and the mace

The recently approved National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) Bill seeks to eliminate bureaucratic red tape to enable rapid rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. However, concerns remain that the legislation grants excessive power to the executive by allowing the prime minister to create an autonomous body with broad authority to bypass existing regulations, weakening transparency, oversight, procurement safeguards, and accountability. 

The concerns are valid for several reasons. Research has found that governmental corruption during disaster relief is common and more prevalent in developing countries such as ours. One mechanism is compromised transparency and accountability, which occurs when adjustments to procurement regulations, as in the case of the NaRRA bill, reduce oversight and leave room for exploitation. Corruption also remains a major issue locally. In 2025, Jamaica scored 44 out of 100 on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), where scores below 50 indicate serious corruption problems. A 2024 Transparency International report also ranked Jamaica as the third most corrupt country in the English-speaking Caribbean.

At least 28 civil society organizations, church groups, and individuals have publicly raised the above-mentioned concerns about the bill, also citing insufficient public participation and stakeholder engagement in the legislative process, and calling for stronger protections for climate resilience and environmental impact. However, these concerns have been largely dismissed by the Holness administration. As expected, the Opposition has taken the Government to task about the bill, engaging them in rigorous debate. However, during the committee phase of the discussion on April 28, PNP Member of Parliament Angela Brown Burke rose from her seat, approached the parliamentary mace, lifted it and placed it back down, incurring the wrath of House Speaker Juliet Holness.

Disturbing the mace is forbidden during parliamentary proceedings. It symbolises the King of England, our head of state, and represents his presence and authority in the House. The session was suspended while the Speaker berated Brown Burke, recited the relevant parliamentary rules, and ordered her removal from the chamber. Brown Burke broke a rule, and breaches of procedure warrant consequences. The Speaker has a right not only to censure and eject her, but also to revisit the incident during the subsequent sitting of Parliament the following week and underscore the importance of decorum and adherence to parliamentary procedure.

A pertinent question, however, is what motivated Brown Burke’s actions. As she later explained, they did not occur in a vacuum but were precipitated by mounting frustration with the Speaker’s management of parliamentary proceedings. The Speaker has a duty to maintain order, including shutting down anyone who speaks out of turn or violates Standing Orders. But, on several occasions, she has muted the mics of opposition members while they tried to frame questions, denied their requests to speak, and been abrasive, supercilious, and dismissive in her utterances. Last week, as Brown Burke remarked, the proverbial bottom fell out of the bucket when Holness repeatedly ignored her and other members of the Opposition when they attempted to get her attention. And her initial response to Brown Burke validated criticisms of her disrespectful behaviour, as she shouted “Outside! Outside! Outside!” at her as if she were a stray animal. 

Holness said Brown Burke and her party “Defied the authority of the Chair and the orderly conduct of the House”, and they did. Parliamentarians have a duty to respect the rules. But the Speaker also has a responsibility to engage elected lawmakers respectfully and not as if they are beneath her. History demonstrates that persistent unfairness or disrespect from those in positions of authority inevitably provokes resistance, even when that resistance entails breaking established rules to make a broader point. For instance, with the possible exception of Norman Manley, our national heroes challenged laws, conventions, and systems they regarded as unjust or oppressive.

Brown Burke said she requested permission from the Speaker, as allowed under the Standing Orders, to make a personal explanation at the next sitting of Parliament, but received neither acknowledgment of her request nor permission to explain. Instead, she had no other option but to use the end of her scheduled sectoral presentation to explain the reason for her actions, citing what she described as the Speaker’s disrespectful treatment of her and her colleagues. Notably, Holness left the chamber before her presentation and returned after it ended.

As for the mace, it is regrettable that, 64 years after Independence, we are paying homage to a relic of our colonial past. The mace is a symbol crafted and imposed by representatives of a system responsible for the enslavement, torture, sexual violation, dehumanisation, and exploitation of the ancestors of the majority of Jamaicans. We are told that the King is our head of state, and that the mace represents him, hence its presence until we become a republic, if that ever happens. But this ritual is unnecessary. King Charles III is also the head of state of Northern Ireland, and its parliament does not have a mace. In the Commonwealth country of New Zealand, the presence of the mace is not required for the House to sit. And the Cook Islands, a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand, uses a mace known as Te Taiki Mana, in the form of a traditional canoe paddle and spear and not one of British origin.

Ultimately, the NaRRA bill presents a scenario in which corruption may go unchecked, and we should all be concerned. Rules are to be obeyed, but those entrusted with authority should display fairness and respect in the execution of their duties. And it is time for both major political parties to collaborate on constitution reform aimed at liberating us from rituals and practices that show deference to a system responsible for our oppression and whose members have yet to apologise for their crimes against humanity.

Michael Abrahams is an obstetrician and gynaecologist, social commentator, and human-rights advocate. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and michabe_1999@hotmail.com, or follow him on X @mikeyabrahams