Holness urged to reveal statutory declarations to fight fake news
Published:Thursday | June 27, 2024 | 12:10 AM
Principal Director of the National Integrity Action (NIA) Danielle Archer is suggesting that Prime Minister Andrew Holness make public his 2021 and 2022 statutory declarations to combat misinformation, disinformation, fake news or alternative facts that may be circulating concerning why it has not been certified by the Integrity Commission (IC).
The IC, Jamaica’s anti-corruption watchdog, says it was not able to certify the prime minister’s statutory declaration for at least two years.
Section 56 (1) of the Integrity Commission Act imposes a gag on the commission and bars it from disclosing information on statutory declarations, government contracts and licences. Any such information can only be made public when a report is tabled in Parliament. Section 53 also imposes a restriction on disclosure of information.
The IC has consistently called for the gag order to be repealed or revised, arguing that international best practices in anti-corruption, as well as good governance, accountability and transparency in public affairs, demand that restrictions upon the sharing of public interest information should be revisited.
And, with the submission of the IC’s sixth annual report to Parliament on Wednesday, Executive Director of Jamaicans for Justice Mickel Jackson says she hopes the commission’s annual report touches on the matter of the illicit enrichment of the six parliamentarians and the other public officials, so the public could have a sense of the status of the investigation, given the high public interest in the matter.
She told The Gleaner yesterday that the same should apply to the prime minister’s statutory declarations.
“You hear a kind of passing the buck where the prime minister is responding to journalists in very abstract terms but you will hear nothing from the Integrity Commission,” she said.
Last November, the prime minister indicated that he was in the process of responding to a second set of questions from the IC concerning his statutory declarations.
During a post-Cabinet press briefing, Holness said: “They have written to me asking various questions. I have provided answers, and they have written to me again, and I am in the process of providing those answers.”
However, the prime minister has not provided an update on his interactions with the anti-corruption body.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, Archer responded to concerns that lawmakers being probed for illicit enrichment could be on the joint select committee reviewing the Integrity Commission Act and the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee.
Grave concern
She said that, given the propensity for parliamentarians to protect themselves rather than the institution of parliament, there is grave concern.
Archer said her concerns were heightened since it is now apparent that parliamentarians seem to refuse to support and implement impeachment legislation.
She argued that both the code of conduct and impeachment legislation have been acknowledged as important in ensuring that only persons of the highest integrity serve in Parliament.
In the absence of both, and in the face of the revelation of the probe of six lawmakers for possible illicit enrichment, Archer noted that there would be concern as to whether lawmakers would make policy decisions in the interest of the people of Jamaica or the interest of themselves, their colleagues and or associates.
Archer argued that a “morally tenable position for any parliamentarian who wants to be seen as respecting the rule of law in Jamaica would be to disclose that they are being questioned by the IC about their declarations”.
“If they know that they are being investigated and have not told the people they serve, when the ‘smoke clears’, we can conclude that these members of parliament lack integrity and do not belong in Parliament,” she declared.
However, Jackson has placed on the table a different position as it relates to lawmakers who might be members of the two committees that review matters relating to the IC.
She said the JFJ was not calling for the six parliamentarians being probed for illicit enrichment to be named. However, she said if lawmakers being investigated for illicit enrichment currently sit on the Integrity Oversight Committee and the joint select committee reviewing the IC law, both committees should be disbanded and other members named, to avoid unintentional disclosure.
“And therefore, if persons were being investigated because they would be aware of that status, without unintentionally naming themselves, they would be able to step aside.”
Jackson also echoed JFJ’s call for the IC to be entrenched in the Constitution to guard against attempts by anyone who is being investigated by the anti-corruption body who may take steps to undermine the commission.
She said the investigation of illicit enrichment was a very serious matter.
Jackson indicated that, when such a probe is triggered, it means that there was a mismatch between the income and assets of the persons being probed.
On Wednesday, the IC reported that it submitted its 2023-2024 annual report to Parliament for tabling.
The IC said it anticipates that its annual report will be tabled in Parliament as soon as possible. It said, once the report is tabled, the IC will publish it on its website.