ECJ urged to arrange public signing of Political Code of Conduct with party leaders

 

Founding Director of watchdog group National Integrity Action, Professor Trevor Munroe, is calling for the political ombudsman to arrange a public signing of the Political Code of Conduct with the leaders of the two main political parties. 

 

This, he suggested, would be in an effort to quell the heated rhetoric and rising tensions during campaigning for the general election.

 

Professor Munroe said there should also be an indication by Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness and Opposition Leader Mark Golding that there will be sanctions where members of the political parties are found to have acted contrary to the code.

 

He said the nine-member Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) has not been convincing in its response as political ombudsman to addressing the issue.

 

Speaking Monday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica, he urged the ECJ to use the budget at the disposal of the political ombudsman division to remind political aspirants and the public about the acceptable rules of engagement.

 

"Part of our problem, part of our challenge is that very few people know what's in that code of conduct. And one of the things I think we need to do - in fact the Electoral Commission of Jamaica has that responsibility now - is to do a serious multimedia campaign. What are the eight points [of the code of conduct]? No inflammatory speech, no intimidation, no prevention of access to particular communities. All of those are in there."

 

Citing the government's public campaign promoting Jamaica's 'road to republic', Professor Munroe said a similar campaign should be done for "the road to a peaceful election". 

 

In the meantime, the NIA founding director is hopeful that following the general election, there will be a review of the performance of the ECJ as political ombudsman. He wants the ECJ to make the request for a review.

 

"I really do hope that following this failing experiment of a nine-man referee, that the ECJ itself will say, look, whoever wins, please look again at this law to restore not only the previous ombudsman, but to strengthen it in a way that was being proposed by Prime Minister [Bruce] Golding and subsequent leaders as well," he proposed.