JAMAICA | The Rise and Fall of Marlene Malahoo Forte: From The Court Bench to Parliamentary Backbench

MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica, October 21, 2025 - Marlene Malahoo Forte’s story is one of brilliance, ambition, and paradox. From her early days in rural Westmoreland to the heights of national office, she seemed destined for greatness. Yet after the formation of Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s latest Cabinet, she finds herself cast aside—her wings once lifted by power now abruptly clipped.

From Head Girl to High Court

Born in Hubble, Westmoreland, Marlene was a child of promise. At Manning’s High School she served as Head Girl, a role that foreshadowed her fierce intellect, determination, and commanding presence. Her legal training carried her to the bar and then to the heights of the Jamaican judiciary, where she distinguished herself as a Resident Magistrate judge. Few could doubt her ambition; fewer still could deny her capacity.

Her personal life carried prestige too. She married Hon. Justice (Ret’d) Ian Forte, a respected jurist who himself served with distinction as a Judge of the Supreme Court of Jamaica (High Court). Together, they represented one of Jamaica’s most prominent legal pairings.

Strategic Positioning in Politics

Resigning from the bench to enter the political arena, Malahoo Forte joined the Jamaica Labour Party and quickly positioned herself as a rising star. She served as Senator and State Minister, and in 2016 captured the tough battleground seat of St. James West Central.

Her reward was the office of Attorney General, where she became the government’s chief legal advisor, shaping policy and defending the Holness administration’s agenda in the courts and in Parliament.

Her crowning glory came with the creation of the Ministry of Legal and Constitutional Affairs in 2022. Prime Minister Holness entrusted her with nothing less than steering Jamaica’s long-promised transition from monarchy to republic.

In that moment, Malahoo Forte appeared to be at the pinnacle of her career—the woman chosen to write a new chapter in Jamaica’s constitutional story.

Wings to Fly, Then Clipped

Yet politics is as unforgiving as it is rewarding. Despite the fanfare, constitutional reform stalled. The Opposition questioned her methods, and many civil society voices grew frustrated with what seemed like endless consultations and little progress.

By 2025, rumours swirled that Malahoo Forte might not even contest her seat again, preferring to retire and spend more time with her husband, the retired judge.

But the Prime Minister and the JLP hierarchy urged her to stay the course for a third term, and she agreed. Her re-election bid was fortified by powerful interests in Freeport—cynical allies who, despite never truly embracing her, saw her candidacy as a convenient conduit to protect their access to state resources, positions, and influence.

Money flowed in abundance; the electorate was courted, flattered, and too often induced by the lure of “filthy lucre.”

It was never about Marlene, not really. She was a face, a vessel, a tool to be used.

The Unkindest Cut

When Andrew Holness announced his new Cabinet after securing another general election victory, Malahoo Forte was nowhere to be found. The Ministry of Constitutional Affairs was dissolved, folded back into the Ministry of Justice. And she, a three-term MP and senior minister, was relegated to the backbench—the most unkind cut of all.

For her, the fall was steep. From the promise of leading Jamaica into republican destiny to sitting without portfolio, watching others occupy the seats of power she once graced.

Used and Discarded

In the end, her trajectory tells us as much about Jamaica’s politics as it does about Marlene Malahoo Forte herself. She was lifted up when she was useful, fortified when her presence secured power, but left to drift once the prize was secured.

Now, like harmonious birds of prey, her supposed allies descend on the spoils of state, while she is expected to go gently into the night.

Her rise was real; Her fall, spectacular ! The lesson: in politics, wings are given not to soar, but to serve—until the moment comes when they are clipped.

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