Anti-corruption activist, Jeanette Calder, says several clauses in the Integrity Commission Act are acting against the objective of the entity to address corruption.
Ms Calder is Executive Director of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal, JAMP.
She cites several examples of the so called secrecy clauses, which she says are egregious.
Nora Gaye Banton reports:
Executives at the Integrity Commission have been pushing to have parliament amend the legislation passed in 2017, as they saying the so called gag clauses in the law, hinder their operations.
Those clauses include section 35, 36, 51 and 56.
The clauses force the entity to treat with secrecy, any probes and the subjects of those probes, until it tables a report to Parliament.
The clauses also forbid the entity from publishing information on Government contracts.
Parliamentarians, including Justice Minister Delroy Chuck in defense of the clauses say they are important to protect the reputation of a subject of an Integrity Commission investigation.
But Ms Calder says the clauses do more harm than good.
She says based on her interpretation of the legislation, the Integrity Commission is also bound to treat with confidentiality, cases where public servants are prosecuted.
It’s why she says sections of the legislation are egregious.
Ms Calder also hit back at Minister Chuck who’s reported in the media as saying a recent UK Supreme Court ruling reaffirms his position why the so called secrecy clauses in the Integrity Commission Act should be retained.
That ruling, in a matter involving Bloomberg News, says criminal suspects have the right to not have their names and credentials publicized until they are charged.
