Member of Parliament (MP) for Clarendon North Central, Robert Morgan, has resigned his position as chairman of the public relations committee of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
The first-term MP confirmed his resignation on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday after the party concluded a meeting of its Central Executive at its Belmont Road, Kingston headquarters.
While it is not clear why Morgan resigned, he has received backlash for recent comments made about a public letter of reprimand from House Speaker Juliet Holness to the former Clerk to the Houses of Parliament, Valrie Curtis, who retired under a cloud on April 6 after serving the Parliament for nearly 30 years.
She was accused by the Speaker of not complying with her instructions about how reports from the Administrator General’s Department should be tabled in the Parliament. Public commentators have described the speaker’s action as unprecedented.
Responding to questions from journalists, Morgan described the letter as “immaterial” in the grand scheme of things and said his constituents were not concerned about such a letter.
The Opposition People’s National Party seized on the matter, describing Morgan’s response as “crass and arrogant”.
During the Central Executive meeting on Sunday, Party Leader Andrew Holness advised the body that a Public Relations Council is to be established to lead the party’s communication efforts. Membership of the Council is to be revealed at a later date, he disclosed.
There were other resignations on Sunday as both Homer Davis, the Member of Parliament for St James Southern, and Audley Gordon, Executive Director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, resigned their deputy general secretary posts in the JLP.
They have been replaced by the Deputy Mayor of Kingston, Councillor Delroy Williams, who is now the deputy general secretary for Area One, and deputy president of the Senate, Charles Sinclair, who is now the deputy general secretary for Area Four.
Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Portland Western, Daryl Vaz, has replaced Senator Aubyn Hill as JLP treasurer. Hill has reportedly been reassigned to the party’s secretariat where he will oversee strategic development, among other duties.
General Secretary Dr Horace Chang noted that the new additions to the party’s secretariat are members of the Senate who do not currently have a constituency which requires their attention, thereby enabling them to dedicate the necessary effort to the complete the respective tasks assigned.
