'Anxious parliamentarians must live with consequence of IC gag clause'

 

Attorney-at-Law Kenyatta Powell says parliamentarians are solely responsible for the unease they are experiencing concerning the six unnamed legislators being investigated for illicit enrichment.

 

At Thursday's meeting of the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee of Parliament, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck said speculation about which parliamentarians are being investigated by the anti-corruption body was not good for lawmakers.

 

Mr. Powell, who was a guest Friday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106FM, said parliamentarians must live with the consequences of the so-called 'gag clause' of the Integrity Commission Act that they approved despite public concerns.

 

"It's a privilege that no other Jamaican in relation to any other potential criminal offence is afforded. They voted themselves this privilege, which is that they're afforded complete anonymity when they are being investigated by the Integrity Commission for just this one category of offences. And now that special privilege that they gave themselves has come back to bite them in their hind parts. So I have no sympathy at all for them," the attorney said. 

 

Under Section 56 of the Integrity Commission Act, the anti-corruption body is not allowed to speak about its investigations unless a report has first been tabled in Parliament. 

 

Mr. Powell said any solution to end speculation arising from investigations being carried out by the Integrity Commission could result in either a relaxation or tightening of the gag clause. 

 

"You can amend the gag clause to allow the Integrity Commission either to remove it completely or to allow the Integrity Commission to actually name people; I suppose you could create some specific circumstances in which that could happen. You could do that. Or you could go further and restrict information even more and say the Integrity Commission cannot even say in its annual report that it is investigating however many people for whatever." 

 

According to the attorney, the government must do all within its power to strengthen the Integrity Commission to stamp out corruption in the country. 

 

"The current government tells us that because we have a serious crime problem, that ordinary laws about civil liberties and...the ordinary niceties, we can't afford those things. This is something that the government has said. But in a country where we have a massive problem with corruption, we must never do anything that could potentially affect the reputation of parliamentarians. That kind of calculus for me is nonsense and I will never accept it," he complained.