Privileges and Ethics committees
Both the Privileges and Ethics committees of the House of Representatives are expected to meet on Wednesday. Speaker Michael Peart chairs the two committees.
The Committee of Privileges, which is the correct title, deals with any matter which appears to affect the powers or privileges of the House. It will be asked to decide how Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) MP Karl Samuda will be treated following the successful censure motion brought against him by the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) on October 3.
The committee is comprised of nine members – four from each side plus the Speaker. This suggests that the Government will need the Speaker’s casting vote to decide in favour of punishing Samuda on the basis of what transpired in the debate on the censure motion.
The members of this committee are:
Peart, chairman; OT Williams, Victor Cummings, Charles Learmond, and Dr Patrick Harris (PNP); and, Derrick Smith, Olivia Grange, Ernie Smith and Clive Mullings (JLP).
The Ethics Committee is comprised of: Peart, chairman; Dr Peter Phillips, John Junor, and Dr Morais Guy (PNP); and Audley Shaw, Joseph Hibbert and Clive Mullings (JLP).
This committee ensures that the members stick to the rules by:
. investigating and reporting on complaints of departures from the code of conduct;
. requiring full disclosure of any interest which might be interpreted as a conflict; and
. examines members’ requests for exemptions from having to vacate their seats on becoming party to government contracts, or having interest in any firm or company which is a party to such contracts, in keeping with section 41 of the Constitution.
This last term was introduced following the concern expressed by the leader of the opposition, Bruce Golding, about the tradition of Parliament approving the exemptions without discussions.
Motions for these exemptions were passed without debate, a convention accepted by both sides, until Golding claimed that by continuing the tradition parliamentarians were failing in their duty to the public.
He first made the point when Leader of the House, Dr Peter Phillips, brought a resolution seeking to exempt government MP Dr Patrick Harris (North Trelawny) as a shareholder of Tropical Exotics Jamaica Limited, which operates from the Hague property in Trelawny on a government lease.
Dr Phillips explained that from time-to-time the company entered into contracts with the Government for the supply of farm and fish products, as well as attractions and entertainment promotion.
“The tradition is for somebody to present the resolution with no discussion, no examination, no debate and we approve it and we exempt the member from losing his seat, without a full disclosure of the issues that are involved,” Golding complained.
“I don’t think that we are doing justice to the public if every time a matter like this comes up we take a view (of) ‘no discussion, let’s approve it and move on’,” Golding added.
Dr Phillips said the Vale Royal talks between the two political parties had secured agreement on the principle that an ethics committee of the House should be established and that, among other things, the committee would consider matters such as the exemptions.
“We recognise that, in effect, as this Parliament develops its tradition and seeks to respond to concerns that may be raised, we certainly should be willing to make adjustments to bring the House in line with modern standards and practices, and to develop our own standards which may become a beacon to other Parliaments,” Phillips responded.
Dr Harris’ exemption was approved. But Golding raised the issue again when Dr Donald Rhodd, the minister of state in the national security ministry, sought an exemption.
Exemption motions for former Government ministers K D Knight and John Junor, Dr Rhodd and Opposition member Pearnel Charles, are currently before the committee and should be finalised by the committee on Wednesday.
** Another issue currently before the Ethics Committee is that of the offer from private companies to provide parliamentarians with laptops, free of cost, following the decision in February to allow the use of computers in the chamber.
Again, it was the opposition leader who had objected to a proposal from minister of technology, Phillip Paulwell, that two sources, including Cable and Wireless Jamaica, had agreed to provide the laptops free of cost.
Paulwell told the House that he had accepted the offer on behalf of the members. But Golding questioned the appropriateness of parliamentarians accepting gifts from commercial entities affected by decisions made in Parliament.
“It is something that I think could have benefited from consultations. We have to advise ourselves on the matter,” he suggested.
Dr Phillips offered the compromise of the ethics committee reviewing the matter and making a ruling, to which the House agreed.
It is also expected that the committee will try to sign off on this issue as well, this week.
** Incidentally, the latest motion for an exemption was tabled two Fridays ago by newly appointed JLP Senator, Colonel Trevor MacMillan.
He is seeking an exemption on the basis that he is director of a company, Security Advisory and Management Company Limited (SAMS), which has contracts with Air Jamaica Limited and the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) to provide management and security consulting services.