Bartlett pushes for change in tabling of IC reports

It appears that some members of the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee (ICOC) are unhappy that investigation reports from the Integrity Commission (IC) are tabled and made available to the wider public before the oversight committee gets a chance to review the documents and submit a report to Parliament.

At a meeting of the oversight committee on Thursday, Chairman of the ICOC Edmund Bartlett said, “It is unfortunate that the way it is structured, the reports are at large long before we get a chance to review.

“Members have already raised the relevance of review after the committee has seen the report all over town by way of media and all kinds of publications,” Bartlett noted.

Bartlett told ICOC members that steps were being made to review the Standing Orders or the rules of Parliament with a view to changing the status quo.

“We want to look at the Standing Orders in relation to that and I have already put on record that we will review that position because it makes very little sense in my mind for us to review and report on a matter that is already in the public space,” Bartlett said.

Integrity Commission Act

However, the Integrity Commission Act, which was mainly crafted by the former People’s National Party administration and passed under the direction of the current Jamaica Labour Party Government, stipulates clearly how investigation reports from the IC are to be dealt with when submitted to the legislature for tabling.

Section 54(4) of the Integrity Commission Act provides that: “Where the report (from the director of investigation) to the commission has a recommendation under subsection (3), the commission shall submit it to Parliament for tabling…”.

Further, when Speaker of the House of Representatives made her ruling on November 7, 2023, she stated that “reports from the director of investigations submitted under Section 54(4) will be tabled as soon as possible after receipt by the Parliament, having regard to the serious nature of the matters that are contained therein. It will require the immediate and direct attention of the House. After it is tabled it will then be submitted to the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee for their consideration and report.”

However, the Speaker indicated that special and annual reports from the IC will go to its oversight committee for deliberations first and then tabled later with the committee’s own report.

At Thursday’s meeting ICOC member Delroy Chuck argued that if the work of the committee is to be relevant, the technical team from the commission should be in attendance to answer questions from members.

“My view is that the process should be that the technical team should be here just in the event we have questions on the reports,” he said.

Another committee member, Julian Robinson, said there was value in having representatives from the IC to answer queries about the reports.

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