House Speaker Among Three People Charged for Illegal Dumping

House Speaker and Member of Parliament Marisa Dalrymple Philibert is among three people allegedly observed dumping garbage in a no dumping zone in St Ann Sunday.

All three were subsequently charged by the police. They are scheduled to appear before the St Ann’s Bay court on Thursday, October 7, 2021.

It is often said that elected officials should be held to a higher standard of accountability. The news comes as a surprise to many that Speaker of the House and Member of Parliament Marisa Dalrymple Philibert would be charged with an offense- illegal dumping. 

Reports from the St. Ann’s Bay police are about 11:15 a.m on Sunday, lawmen were conducting patrol along the Salem main road when they allegedly observed a pick-up truck disposing of garbage in an illegal dumping area.

Three people at the scene were subsequently charged for breaches of the National Solid Waste Management Act. They are thirty-year-old Giovanni Philibert, forty-two-year-old Simon Sanchez, and House Speaker Dalrymple Philibert

Efforts to get a comment from Mrs. Dalrymple Philibert were futile.

When our news team contacted the executive director of the National Solid Waste Management Authority, Audley Gordon, he says he’s unable to speak to the specifics, as to why Mrs. Dalrymple Philibert would end up at a police station and be charged.

Gordon says the site is a familiar one to the authority, that has to be cleaned on a regular basis, despite it being a no dumping zone.

A person found guilty of littering may be fined up to $1 million dollars or sentenced to imprisonment for a term not exceeding nine months.

The Jamaica Labour Party ( JLP) in a statement says it has acknowledged the issue and is determined to allow the justice system to treat the matter. The Party says it stands behind the southern Trelawny MP Dalrymple Philibert.