GOVERNMENT and Opposition last night agreed to a request by business leaders to have their elected members of parliament declare in writing their commitment not to be associated with criminals nor to accept financial support from them.

Senators, mayors, councillors and caretakers will also be required to make a similar commitment.

President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica Beverly Lopez goes over notes with banker Peter Moses before the start of yesterday's meeting with representatives of the Government and Opposition at Jamaica House. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

The nation's political representatives also agreed at a meeting at Jamaica House last night that they will not seek to exercise influence or to impede the security forces in the exercise of their duties.

The meeting was called by Prime Minister P J Patterson following last week Wednesday's protest by private sector leaders, who locked their businesses and later held a rally in Emancipation Park, New Kingston, to protest against the country's rising crime rate.

A statement issued by Jamaica House, following the meeting yesterday, said the political ombudsman will be provided with the authority by legislation, if necessary, to investigate breaches, and that erring members will be reported to their respective political parties for appropriate action.

The business leaders, led by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, later released a declaration which, among other things, called for all 60 MPs and officers of all the political parties to sever and publicly declare in writing by June 15, 2005 a commitment to disassociate themselves and their constituency organisations from gunmen, dismantle garrisons, and disassociate themselves from any association with criminals or the acceptance of any financial or other support from criminal elements.

"A committee headed by the political ombudsman will be established to begin implementing recommendations contained in the Report on National Committee on Political Tribalism (Kerr Report), which would address the matter of the dismantling of garrisons.

The committee will include representatives from the private sector and human rights groups," said last night's statement from Jamaica House.

Government, Opposition and the private sector also agreed that:
. A joint select committee on security will be established before the end of this week to consider further "capacity-enhancing measures" as well as material support for the security forces. The committee is expected to report to Parliament before the current term ends in July.

. The committee will also consider submissions and a raft of legislations that will be tabled in Parliament by the end of July 2005.

Among them will be the plea-bargaining, electronic surveillance and finger print legislation, Proceeds of Crime Act, amendments of the Interception of Communications Act and the Evidence Act.

It is intended that witnesses, especially those in the Witness Protection Programme, will be allowed to give evidence by video link in order not to compromise their safety.

. Parliament may suspend some of the programmed debates or extend sittings beyond July in order to complete the legislative programme.

. A police oversight body will be established to monitor and report on the performance of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. Changes are being proposed which would allow for police officers who no longer enjoy the confidence of the commissioner to be retired in the public interest.

. The private sector will work with the Jamaica Constabulary Force to develop methods of addressing the problems associated with extortion.

Hours before he sat down with the prime minister and private sector leaders at Jamaica House yesterday, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding said he would be proposing strict, new measures to "degarrisonise" political constituencies, to be monitored by a committee headed by the political ombudsman.

Golding said that these measures were necessary if the Declaration of Emancipation Park, presented by the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica in Kingston last week, is to be effective.

The Opposition leader said that his party was prepared to make the commitment, by signing the declaration, subject to some minor amendments to the draft.

However, he remarked that signing "a piece of paper" would not be enough, and noted that virtually all the commitments set out in the PSOJ's declaration were already included in the Code of Political Conduct which both parties signed in 2002.

"We have no difficulty in signing yet another one, but the real test of our commitment and resolve will come not from the signing of documents, but from the sanctions that will be imposed on those who fail to honour those commitments," Golding said at a press conference to name the new members of the Jamaica Labour Party's shadow cabinet.

Golding said that the process should begin with a definition of what makes a garrison, then identification of the garrisons, followed by a process of transformation.

University Players to bring 'Art' to local audiences

Club vs Station — Round one

Compound interest or diminishing returns