Opposition senators Friday supported the passage of the Electronic Transactions Bill but urged that in the process of transforming business procedures more support be given to local investors and business professionals.

Opposition spokesperson on industry, commerce and investments, senator Shirley Williams, said that while the Opposition welcomes the legal framework for the technological developments, it did not feel that local investors were being given an equal opportunity to compete with foreign investors.

“I want to say very clearly to my colleagues on the other side that no amount of technological advance and legal framework to sustain it is going to sustain the business community in this country, in the absence of government policy to support local investors and professionals,” she said.

“I believe that it is very unfortunate that today in Jamaica we have two different sets of laws – one for the foreign investor and foreign businessman; the other for the local. It is high time that we have one playfield for local and foreign investors,” she added.

Williams noted that most of the major construction being done in the country were by overseas contractors, while local professionals are overlooked.

She said that local businesses also needed the attention of the Government in creating a level playing field, “where all the engineers, all the architects, all our professionals are encouraged and supported by policies brought here (to Parliament)”.

Williams suggested that the Government should review the work permit law and its business policies in order to encourage local businesses to compete.

The Electronic Transactions Bill is being enacted to facilitate the use of electronic transactions in commercial activities.

Making his first contribution to a debate in the Senate since the recent Trafigura donation controversy, former minister of information and development, Senator Colin Campbell, described the Bill as a “good one”.

He said that it was not only forward-looking, but was also a “critical piece of legislation in support of business and in support of directing income streams into real growth areas”.

He said that the bill could only help to create an improved business environment in Jamaica, and ensure that the business community benefits immensely.

Campbell also noted that the Bill was technology neutral and could accommodate other developments, and would also equate, for the first time, paper-based transactions with electronic transactions, which he described as “a revolution in Jamaica”.

“A lot of us forget or choose to ignore the fact that the Government has published a strategic plan, and laid out very specific and concrete steps which would be taken in the short, medium and long term to place Jamaica at the very heart of this ICT revolution, and to ensure that we capitalise and become the Caribbean nation which maximises our revenues and profits from the ICT sector,” Senator Campbell said.

He said that the Bill contributed to the creation of that environment and lives up to the commitment given at the start of the liberalisation process for the sector.

Opposition senator, Dr Christopher Tufton, asked that in passing the Bill, the Upper House consider, seriously, how the country will regulate the activities to minimise the consequences of fraud likely to arise from the use of the electronic services.

He also raised the question of liabilities as, he said, a greater burden will be placed on intermediaries in preserving the integrity of information and facilitating transactions, therefore, and since these intermediaries could corrupt the process they should be made liable.

But minister of foreign affairs and foreign trade, Senator Anthony Hylton, said that he didn’t think that the issue needed any special treatment in the legislation.

“The whole framework, the scheme assumes and focuses, correctly I believe, on the sender and on the receiver. For the intermediary to have a role to play would have to be at the choice of the sender or the receiver as to which intermediary they rely upon,” he said.

He said that, in the competitive environment, it is very unlikely that there would only be one intermediary, so the issue could be addressed by the choice of intermediaries.

Closing the debate, Attorney-General Senator A J Nicholson agreed with the Opposition that there was need for a massive public education programme to support the legislation, in light of the opportunities for fraud and corruption.

The Bill seeks to eliminate the barriers to electronic commerce, resulting from the uncertainties over writing and signature requirements within the legal framework, and to provide for the use of secure methods for the conduct of electronic transactions.

It was successfully piloted through the House of Representatives on November 14 by the minister of industry, technology, energy and commerce, Phillip Paulwell.

Delaying news of the delay

It was interesting how tight-lipped minister of information and development Donald Buchanan was when responding to the media on the issue of the postponement of the local government elections.

Last Monday, following the Cabinet meeting, Buchanan would not say more than that the minister of local government and the environment, Dean Peart, would make a statement on Wednesday. However, it was quite obvious that he knew then that the bill for delaying the elections by a year would have been tabled Tuesday and debated Wednesday.

Well, so much for information and transparency.

Pear insists he did speak to Christie

Did Contractor-General Greg Christie, ever speak to minister of local government and the environment Dean Peart?

Opposition spokesman on works Pearnel Charles was sure Wednesday that Christie had advised talk show host Wilmot Perkins that he had never spoken to Peart.

However, Peart insisted that they had spoken, but not about the $100,000 threshold on parish council contracts which need to follow procurement procedures.

Peart said that he had spoken to Christie on the telephone before that.

Government member Dr Patrick Harris shouted across the room that Charles and Christie are cousins.

Christmas work complaint

Opposition spokesman on finance and the public service Audley Shaw claimed Wednesday that the JLP-controlled parish councils were being starved of cash, while JLP parliamentarians were being victimised in the Christmas work allocations.

Shaw claimed that while he got only $300,000 for work in his constituency, the other three Manchester MPs, all from the ruling People’s National Party (PNP), got approximately $1 million each.

Minister Dean Peart later disclosed that his brother, the Speaker of the House, Michael Peart, got only $400,000. But Shaw insisted that the information at the parish council office in Mandeville showed that he had access to $1 million. The minister did not disclose how much he got for his constituency.

Shaw accused junior minister Richard Azan of “open and barefaced behaviour” in allocating himself enough funds to fix 20 roads in his North West Clarendon constituency, “while other MPs have to be begging to get one or two roads fixed in their constituencies”.

Azan reacted: “Twenty! Forty.”

Shaw suggested that to clear up the issue, the minister should table the full list of allocations.

Holness raps local government ministry

Opposition spokesman on education, Andrew Holness, said that the Ministry of Local Government is not serving any meaningful purpose and the ministry should be closed down and the councils given autonomy.

He accused the Government of spending some $208 million to staff the ministry in order to administer local government which can be better administered by the councils themselves.

He said that consensus should be sought on the future of the local authorities to avoid uncertainty.

Christmas break

Parliamentarians go off on their annual Christmas break this week, with the House having its final sitting for the year on Tuesday and the Senate planning to sit on Thursday and Friday with, among the issues to be discussed, four very controversial bills – Interception of Communications, an amendment to the Petroleum Act to set up the Petrocaribe Development Fund and the two bills postponing Local Government elections.

THIS WEEK

Tuesday, December 12

Public Accounts Committee meets at 10:00 am.

It is likely that representatives of Gorstew Limited, one of the partners in the development of the controversial Sandals Whitehouse Hotel, will appear to answer questions on the project.

House of Representatives meets at 2:00 pm.

Wednesday, December 13

Joint Select Committee on the bills entitled The Incest (Punishment) Act and the Act Amending the Offences Against the Person Act (re marital rape, etcetera).

Thursday, December 14

Sitting of the Senate at 10:00 am.

Friday, December 15

Sitting of the Senate at 10:00 am.

balfordh@jamaicaobserver.com