KINGSTON, Jamaica – With three reports from the Auditor General’s (AG’s) Department on public bodies now in the Parliament’s registry, where they will remain for two months before they are tabled, Speaker of the House of Representatives Marisa Dalrymple Philibert said she is correcting an unlawful practice which offends the Jamaican constitution.

Addressing Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, Dalrymple Philibert said that all reports of the AG’s Department have always been tabled in the House upon receipt, whether they pertain to a Ministry, an agency or a public body.

“However, the practice in general, is not, in my understanding, in keeping with section 30 of the Financial Audit and Administration (FAA) Act. That section – section 30 – provides for the Auditor General’s Report on a public body to be tabled where the Minister with responsibility for that public body fails to report to this Parliament within a two-month period,” she said.

“As long as I am here as the Speaker, regardless of what we have practised in this House, whenever it is pointed out to me, or I become aware that what I am doing offends the constitution, the standing orders or any law of the land, then I must disregard the practice and abide by the laws,” she added.

The House Speaker, who noted that the reports on the public bodies include the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency, said she has written to Attorney General Derrick McKoy for further guidance in interpreting section 30 of the FAA Act in relation to the tabling of reports from public bodies.

“I want to say very clearly and very humbly that I am not the Alpha or the Omega in relation to any rulings in this Parliament. I am not. But I say very honestly that I must be guided by my own understanding. I am not ceremonial, I have to read, I have to adjudicate, I have to determine, I have to be guided by my own understanding of the rules and ultimately, as I have done, seek the guidance of the Attorney General, who is the legal advisor to the Government on all matters of constitution and laws.

In responding to Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson’s query for clarity on the new process, Darylmple Philibert explained that the registry of the Parliament has been instructed by the speaker to log every document that comes into the Parliament, the date and time “and I have told the personnel who mans the registry, [that] a week before two months comes, conme alert myself or the clerk’s office.”

“If I have not heard from the relevant Minister, I don’t care, it’s going on the table of the Parliament because that is what I understand the Act to be saying,” she said.

In the meantime, Dalrymple Philibert chastised members of parliament, including herself, for not paying keen enough attention to documents when they come before Parliament.

“As members of this House, we have not carefully read all the documents that come before us and we have, from year to year, continued a practice without questioning or looking at the law and I am first to raise my hand…I have fallen prey to the same thing, because I have come and been quite a dodo bird in following certain instructions without asking for the relevant law. But as time goes on and by interest in the Parliament – this is the only way the Parliament will grow – if we read, question and understand,” she said

“Our first duty as members of the Parliament is when legislation comes to us and it is being passed, don’t sit on your phone, do not have a conversation, do not have a second Parliament, listen to the words, because what you agree to is what comes back for us to deal with in this House,” she added.