Leaders slow in signing IC code of conduct
Published:Saturday | April 22, 2023 | 12:06 AM
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Five months after the Integrity Commission invited Prime Minister Andrew Holness and members of his Cabinet as well as Opposition Leader Mark Golding and his shadow cabinet to commit themselves to a leadership code of conduct, only six opposition...
Five months after the Integrity Commission invited Prime Minister Andrew Holness and members of his Cabinet as well as Opposition Leader Mark Golding and his shadow cabinet to commit themselves to a leadership code of conduct, only six opposition members have inked the document.
Among other principles, the code commits each leader to honesty, accountability, and openness in fulfilling their public duties.
The persons who have signed the Leadership Code of Conduct – also called the Seven Principles of Public Life – are Mark Golding, Julian Robinson, Dr Floyd Morris, Dr Angela Brown Burke, Donna Scott-Mottley, and Patricia Duncan Sutherland.
No member of the Government has signed.
This was confirmed by Integrity Commission (IC) Executive Director Greg Christie on Monday, when asked by The Gleaner for an update.
Asked why there was such limited participation in the signing of the code by members of the Opposition’s Council of Spokespersons, Golding told The Gleaner that he invited members of his shadow cabinet to ink the document.
“I have not heard of anybody not wanting to sign it. Nobody has expressed any negative view towards doing it,” Golding said, adding that he would send members of his team a reminder about the signing.
At Wednesday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, de facto Information Minister Robert Morgan was asked whether the prime minister or any member of the Cabinet had signed the code.
“No code of conduct has been presented to me to sign,” he responded. “I am pretty much unable to comment on a code of conduct that I have never seen or had any discussion with anyone about.”
On November 15, 2022, the IC emailed a letter along with the Leadership Code of Conduct commitment document to the Office of the Prime Minister. A hard copy was hand-delivered on the same day.
Christie previously told The Gleaner that Merle Donaldson of the Office of the Prime Minister had confirmed to the commission that she had received the letter on November 16 at approximately 8:43 a.m.
When lawmakers in the nation’s Parliament debated the Integrity Commission Act in 2017 one of the provisions they gave the nod to is Section 6 (1)(g) which gives the anti-corruption body the mandate “to prepare codes of conduct and other advisory material relating to corruption”.
The Integrity Commission argued that while there was no legal requirement placed on any official to commit to the code of conduct, their formal subscription to the stated principles “will obviously be a clear demonstration to the people of Jamaica of the standards of integrity, governance and accountability that they are prepared to submit themselves to as holders of the highest public offices in Jamaica.
“Likewise, and conversely, a failure to formally commit to the code would also signal to Jamaicans, the type of leadership that they should not expect from the country’s highest public office holders,” the commission stated.
Quizzed as to whether the poor showing in signing the code would nullify the efforts of the commission, Christie said, “The Integrity Commission’s Leadership Code of Conduct document stands, irrespective of who signs and when they sign.”