Jamaica’s Integrity Commission (IC) has expressed ongoing concern regarding some parliamentarians who appear to demonstrate a significant lack of knowledge or understanding of the laws they are elected to create. The IC highlighted the importance of lawmakers being well-informed about the legislation they draft, emphasizing that a solid grasp of legal frameworks is crucial for effective governance and public accountability.
“It is also obvious that some parliamentarians do not read the reports of the Integrity Commission that are routinely tabled in the House of Representatives,” read the statement from the IC.
This statement came after Member of Parliament for St Catherine South West Everald Warmington, who has been a member of the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee for the past four years declared that he has never seen an audit of the IC tabled in Parliament, yet the agency was spending taxpayers’ money.
“When are we going to see audits of that department over the years? There is no way we are going to approve another $2 billion for a department that has not been audited for years”.
He even warned that if the audit was not tabled by March 2025, he would not allow the Parliament to sign off on allocations for the running of the agency.
Finance and the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, who was fielding questions from lawmakers during the sitting of the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, said no reasonable person could “object to your (Warmington’s) requirement”.
The Integrity Commission (IC) responded to statements made by Warmington, clarifying that the commission’s accounting and financial affairs have been audited every year since its establishment. The IC emphasized that these audits have consistently been conducted by an independent external auditor, whose appointment has received written approval from the finance minister.
The commission noted that these audits comply with Section 20(1) of the Integrity Commission Act, which mandates that “the commission shall keep proper accounts of its receipts, payments, assets, and liabilities, and such accounts shall be audited annually by an auditor appointed each year by the commission with the approval of the minister of finance.” This reiteration underscores the IC’s commitment to transparency and accountability in its financial operations.
The financial statements, as at March 2024, indicate that the audit was done by SFAI Jamaica, C.R. Hylton & Company, chartered accountants.
“In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements give a true and fair view of the financial position of the commission as at March 31, 2024, and of its financial performance and cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS),” the independent external auditors stated.
In the six years since the establishment of Jamaica’s single anti-corruption body, the Integrity Commission (IC), its audited financial statements have been consistently submitted and tabled in Parliament as part of the agency’s annual report.
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