IC gag squeeze could be relaxed under new PNP Gov’t
Published:Friday | July 18, 2025 | 12:11 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
The legislative restraint imposed on the Integrity Commission (IC) in how it conducts its investigations could be partially eased under a new People’s National Party (PNP) administration.
Leader of the Opposition and PNP President Mark Golding said if his party forms the next Government, he is prepared to take steps to modify the controversial provisions that effectively bar the IC from commenting on its probes.
Addressing party supporters at a PNP rally in Black River, St Elizabeth, on Wednesday night, Golding indicated that a new administration led by him would make changes to the gag clauses to create a “better balance between protecting reputation and ensuring transparency in public life”.
Golding said the PNP is open to dialogue on the issue as it strives to see a better system of governance where members of the public feel that their contributions help to shape policy.
At the same time, the opposition leader reiterated his pledge to pass impeachment legislation to sanction parliamentarians involved in corruption or otherwise run afoul of the law.
Parliamentarians on both sides of the political divide have consistently railed against any suggestion to amend the gag clauses in the Integrity Commission Act (ICA).
In the recent past, members of the joint select committee reviewing the ICA have rejected recommendations from civil society groups, the Financial Investigations Division (FID), and the IC for a tweaking or removal of the so-called ‘gag clause’.
In its submission, the finance ministry-based FID, which investigates money laundering and other financial crimes, said that the IC should be authorised to comment on probes being conducted, from their start to completion.
With no similar gag clause in its parent legislation, the FID said that the principle of disclosure is an accepted standard for anti-corruption agencies, as set out in the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which Jamaica ratified in 2008.
Nearly 73 per cent of submissions to the committee have called for the controversial gag clauses to be scrapped, with many arguing that they erode trust and confidence in the anti-corruption watchdog.
Some lawmakers are adamant that the anti-corruption body should remain silent on its investigations until a report is submitted to Parliament.
Section 53(3) of the ICA states that “until the tabling of a report in Parliament, all matters under investigation by the director of investigation or any other person involved in such investigation shall be kept confidential and no report or public statement shall be made by the commission or any other person in relation to the initiation or conduct of (the) investigation”.
Additionally, Section 56 of the ICA states that a person concerned in the administration of this act “shall regard and deal with as secret and confidential, all information, statutory declarations, government contracts, prescribed licences and all other matters relating to any matter before the commission”.
The anti-corruption body, in its recommendations to the joint select committee, asked that it be vested with the authority to comment on the initiation of investigations and on aspects of an ongoing probe as deemed necessary and appropriate.