Former Member of Parliament John Junor, has raised new questions in the discussion about the public declaration by Parliamentarians of their assets and income.
He wants more activity from the Integrity Commission, and for more members of the public to become more engaged as watchdogs.
The discussion about disclosures by Parliamentarians has escalated recently, with Prime Minister Andrew Holness signalling that his financial records will be made public within weeks.
Mr. Holness is in support of the Prime Minister, Opposition Leader and Finance Minister making these declarations public.
On the weekend, MP for South East St Andrew Julian Robinson, revealed details of his income and assets which were filed with the Integrity Commission.
Speaking on Beyond The Headlines on Monday, Mr. Junor argued that under existing legislation, the Integrity Commission has far-reaching powers which are being underutilised.
"We need to have an Integrity Commission that is far more active. What we also need is, instead of people to simply sit down and point the accusatory finger, if you really have evidence, submit it to the Integrity Commission. They are mandated to act; they have the power to summon witnesses (and request) production of documents for the purpose of carrying out there functions.
"They are in fact sitting then as a court and if you look at the qualifications of the people who are supposed to be there, I would hope that Jamaica would have some confidence in the integrity of those persons," declared the former MP.
But, Mr. Junor has now raised the issue of a possible negative side effect of making it mandatory for certain parliamentarians to make their disclosures public.
Under the existing practice, the declarations are filed with the Integrity Commission, but the details are not made public.
He is questioning whether it will act as a deterrent for persons with resources from going into Parliament.
Single anti-corruption agency
In the meantime, Professor Trevor Munroe, Executive Director at the National Integrity Action (NIA), has used the opportunity to call for the passage of a particular piece of legislation which has been before Parliament for close to a decade.
He cites the Bill which seeks to create a single anti-corruption agency, which was the vision of former Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
"To make available, the emense investigative potential of the Office of the Contractor General, to link the investigative capability to that of MOCA, RPD, and other such agencies, in order to strengthen the capability in a single anti-corruption commission, called the Integrity Commission," he asserted.
Professor Munroe views this as an efficient way to minimise overall corruption in public office.
He says there have been numerous discussions on the matter and it is now time for the bill to be debated in the houses and passed into law.
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