JAMP calls for Christie’s head

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP), Jeanette Calder, has called on Greg Christie, the executive director of the Integrity Commission (IC), to resign.

The call comes against the background of a response from Christie to the media’s request for comment on a shooting incident on Thursday in which Ryan Evans, a director at the anti-corruption body, was shot and injured by a gunman who relieved him of his briefcase.

In a terse response on Thursday, Christie said: “You should ask the Government that. You should ask them what that means.”

Calder said that the comments were highly unacceptable and irresponsible.

The IC posted on social media site X on Friday that neither it nor its executive director is conveying any blame on the Government for the incident.

APOLOGIES

“To the extent that this is being suggested, it is not the case, and the executive director apologises for any misinterpretation that his comment may have caused,” the release stated.

The commission said it has been in communication with the Government about a number of security-related issues and concerns.

However, Calder argued that the “commission’s statement of apology on behalf of its executive director is an inadequate response, given the extent to which we believe Mr Christie’s response has further compromised the confidence of many Jamaicans and undermined that element of impartiality that is vital to achieving their objectives”.

She urged Christie to resign “in the interest of both the Integrity Commission that he has served since May 2020 and the anti-corruption cause that he has fought for over two decades”.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey said that preliminary investigations have suggested that robbery was the motive for the shooting.

Bailey said that the senior director of the commission was shot by a man who took his briefcase with cash he withdrew from a bank earlier.

editorial@gleanerjm.com