Resurrect impeachment bill, says Golding
Calls for independent senators, two-thirds majority vote for key state appointees
Published:Wednesday | March 16, 2022 | 12:12 AMKimone Francis/Staff Reporter
On the heels of the Integrity Commission’s special report which tagged two former national security ministers in the scandal gripping the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA), Leader of the Opposition Mark Golding is pressing for the passage of an impeachment bill crafted to remove legislators who run afoul of the law from the Parliament.
Golding, who was making his contribution to the Budget Debate on Tuesday, said the proposed legislation would give Jamaicans reprieve from having to “endure witnessing the presence of those whose conduct has brought the Parliament into shame and disrepute”.
Although tabled just under a year ago, Golding’s push for the bill to be put to a joint select committee for wide stakeholder engagement comes almost a week after the revelation that former ministers of national security Robert Montague and Peter Bunting approved firearm licences for persons with criminal antecedents and traces.
In the case of Montague, six appellants whose criminal past ranged from lottery scamming to drug trafficking, to illegal gun possession, received licences, while Bunting granted permits for two appellants, a drug offender whose record was expunged and a man accused of molesting a minor and committing indecent assault.
The Firearms Act gives the minister discretionary power to do so, but the ministers’ decisions have evoked widespread condemnation from many Jamaicans.
Montague has since resigned from the Holness Cabinet but remains as the parliamentary representative for St Mary Western.
Bunting is leader of opposition business in the Senate.
Golding said the bill, which would form part of Jamaica’s constitutional reform, would bring greater accountability “in relation to parliamentarians who violate the fundamental behavioural standards of their office”.
A similar bill was brought to the House in 2011 by former Prime Minister Bruce Golding, which gained no traction.
Golding also argued that the existing constitutional arrangement has entrenched an adversarial political culture that does not support the nation building or the achievement of key developmental imperatives.
“I am therefore in favour of reforms which force our political class to develop and accept the skills of consensus building, a process which will in itself help to build a more tolerant and loving society in Jamaica,” he said.
He called for an expansion of the Senate to include independent members jointly appointed by himself and Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
They must include representatives from the Church and diaspora, he said.
Additionally, Golding said other key officeholders for sensitive posts, including the new president or head of state should Jamaica become a republic, the membership of the three Service Commissions, the chief justice, the president of the Court of Appeal, the auditor general, and the director of public prosecutions, should be approved by two-thirds of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“This will avoid any semblance of fear of political partisanship affecting these sensitive posts,” he said, adding that the country’s constitutional arrangement should reflect its motto.
He also called for the restoration of the convention, initiated by former Prime Minister Golding and continued by former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, of having the Opposition appoint chairmen of various committees within the House of Representatives.
He said that this helped to ensure greater accountability and transparency as well as provided oversight of the executive branch of Government through the committee system.
“When Prime Minister Holness cast aside that convention after the 2020 general election, it was a retrograde step for our democracy,” said Golding.
He said the justification put forward for the decision was to improve the performance of the committees but called that an illusion.
Golding said that the committees have hardly met and argued that the use of chairmen who are government members of parliament has not furthered the objective of providing oversight of the ruling administration.