Does attorney general lack knowledge of parliamentary privilege?
Dear Editor,
At a recent sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament it was revealed that the attorney general had instructed the permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Sancia Bennett Templer, not to disclose the compensation packages to former Petrojam executive members.
The sad truth unearthed in this debacle was that neither members of the PAC (from the fact that they held a brief meeting in camera) nor the attorney general knew of parliamentary privilege — that since Jamaica’s Constitution is based on the Westminster system, Members of Parliament cannot be sued or prosecuted for anything they say in debates; nor can witnesses before parliamentary committees be sued or prosecuted for giving evidence or for the content of the evidence they give.
It is time the prime minister reconsiders his pick for attorney general.
Dudley C McLean II
Mandeville, Manchester
dm15094@gmail.com
