Electorate must demand accountability from politicians - NIA

 

With Jamaicans heading to the polls this year for the parliamentary election, Director of National Integrity Action Danielle Archer says now is the time for the electorate to demand greater accountability from their political representatives.

 

This follows the poor attendance by some Members of Parliament during last year's sittings of the House of Representatives as highlighted in the Sunday Gleaner.  

 

Ms. Archer, who was a guest Wednesday morning on TVJ's Smile Jamaica, said the electorate should request a legislated Code of Conduct, job description and the introduction of a Recall Act for Members of Parliament.   

 

"We shouldn't be letting the politicians tell us what is on their agenda. We should be taking this opportunity to tell them when they come to ask the vote... 'You're going to pass a code of conduct so I can see how you a behave, and if I don't like it, will you give me the right to recall? Ask our parliamentarians, will you support the right to recall? Will you support giving me that right? One of the first things I want to see is this right to recall when you go back to parliament,'" she suggested. 

 

"We talk about constitutional reform, and that's one of the problems I'm having. We do it in phases and we talk about things, but we're not accepting that democracy is a whole," Ms. Archer insisted. 

 

Opposition lawmaker Hugh Graham is at the top of the list of MPs with poor attendance.

 

Mr. Graham attended only one of 37 meetings of the House of Representatives in 2024, missing major debates affecting his constituents while collecting almost $14 million in basic salary for the calendar year.

 

Ms. Archer said Mr. Graham should have stepped aside as MP for St. Catherine North Western and allowed his constituents to elect a new representative.