IC slams parliamentarians for not knowing the law they write

The Integrity Commission (IC) says it remains concerned that there are parliamentarians who continue to exhibit a clear lack of knowledge, or understanding, of the very laws that they are elected to write.

The IC’s comments, which are contained in a statement it issued on Wednesday, follows an accusation made by Government Member of Parliament (MP) Everald Warmington during Tuesday’s sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives.

Members of the governing Jamaica Labour Party have taken the IC to task over its rulings against party members, in particular Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

Warmington falsely told the Standing Finance Committee on Tuesday that the financial and accounting affairs of the Commission have not been audited for years. He also claimed that no audit report had been submitted by the IC to Parliament.

“We haven’t seen an audit of that department (the Integrity Commission) tabled in this House, but they are spending taxpayers’ money,” Warmington told the House.

Turning to Finance Minister, Dr Nigel Clarke,  Warmington said: “I am saying Minister that we (must) get an audit report from that department before the next financial year. There is no way that we are going to approve another $2 billion for a department that has not been audited for years. OK. So, I expect that the audit be laid here before March next year”.

Responding to Warmington, Clarke said: “I don’t think any reasonable person could object to your requirements. These are public funds. And I have no reason to expect that that’s a difficult proposition”.

According to the IC, it is “obvious that some parliamentarians do not read its reports that are routinely tabled in the House of Representatives. It said contrary to the statements made by Warmington, its  accounting and financial affairs have been audited every year in its six years of existence.

“The audits, in each case, have been conducted by an independent external auditor whose appointment has been approved, in writing, by the Minister of Finance himself,” the commission said.

It added that the audited financial statements have been formally submitted to and tabled in Parliament, in each of those six years, as a part of the Commission’s annual reports.

As it relates to its annual report for the 2023/2024 fiscal year ended March 31, 2024, the document, inclusive of the audited and signed financial statements for that fiscal year, was submitted to Parliament on June 26, 2024. The report was formally tabled in the House of Representatives on July 9, 2024.

The IC said it was ironic that the Integrity Commission Parliament Oversight Committee, of which Warmington is a member, met with the Commission for several hours on Tuesday.

“One of the stated purposes of the meeting was to review the 2023/2024 annual report of the commission, inclusive of the commission’s audited financial statements for the 2023/2024 fiscal year,” it said.

And the IC highlighted that the letter which approved the appointment of an independent external auditor to audit its accounts for fiscal year 2023/2024, was signed by Minister Clarke on April 24, 2024.