Free our parliamentarians
Published:Thursday | October 17, 2024 | 12:09 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
Why bother to have an Integrity Commission (IC) in Jamaica? I ask this question because it seems to me that whenever the members of that body, to the best of their abilities, carry out their oversight responsibilities and, in particular, whenever they announce that one or more parliamentarians are being investigated by the IC, invariably they come under harsh and persistent verbal attacks and criticisms from some members of parliament, as has frequently happened over the past two years.
Therefore, why not just allow our nation’s parliamentarians, many of whom love to live big, to freely amass their fortunes, during their respective tenures, without the added inconvenience of their having to annually declare their assets to an oversight body?
After all, Jamaican government ministers and prime ministers have the prestigious titles ‘Honourable’ and ‘Most Honourable’ before their names, so surely, they can and must be trusted. In fact, I would like to propose that two new titles be introduced, namely, ‘Infallible’ and ‘Most Infallible’, for current and future Jamaican government ministers and prime ministers, to replace Honourable and Most Honourable, respectively.
Last, I invite my fellow Jamaicans who have not read George Orwell’s famous and critically acclaimed allegorical novel, Animal Farm, to do so. Once they do, they will better understand and appreciate why, even though all of us in Jamaica, land we love, are equal, some are ‘more equal’ than others.
PATRICK GALLIMORE