THE devastating fallout for the ruling party caused by the 2006 Trafigura scandal has propelled Foreign Affairs Minister and Leader of Government Business in the Senate, AJ Nicholson, to conclude that all donations to political campaigns should be made public.

“I am of the strong belief — and it will take a mountain to convince me otherwise — that all campaign donations should be made public,” Senator Nicholson told the Senate on Friday in moving for the adoption of a report on campaign financing done by the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ).

“Trafigura led me to that position, irreversibly… If all campaign donations were made public there would be no need to delve into people’s accounts to find out what’s there. There would be no need for fictitious or dummy invoices and there would be no need for censure motions,” added Nicholson.

Trafigura Beheer — a company that traded oil for Jamaica on the international market — came to the attention of Jamaicans six years ago when the then-Opposition Jamaica Labour Party revealed that the firm had put $31 million to an account operated by former information minister Colin Campbell, who at the time was also the PNP’s general secretary. The money was transferred to the account just prior to the PNP’s annual conference that year. Trafigura said the money was part of a commercial agreement, while the PNP maintained that it was a donation to the party. The ensuing scandal from the transaction damaged the PNP, and Campbell resigned as PNP general secretary and from the Cabinet.

“That Trafigura issue should not have been handled in the House the way it was,” said Nicholson Friday, as he reflected on the scandal.

He was adamant that the integrity of the electoral system cannot be properly achieved without proper rules.

“As it relates to political party financing, the dangers are legion,” he said, adding that copious legislation would be required.

However, while commending the work of the Commission in developing the recommendations, he complained that it was not enough.

“Let us move toward the legislation, this is work-inprogress,” he commented.

Also Friday, Opposition Senator Tom Tavares Finson, in contributing to the debate, lashed colleague Jamaica Labour Party Member of Parliament Everald Warmington for comments he made in the House of Representatives the Tuesday before about the recommendations of the ECJ. The South West St Catherine Member of Parliament had accused the commission of being highhanded and that the proposals were more “orders” instead of recommendations.

“I am not prepared to come here and rubber-stamp anything unless I see the sense,” the MP said then.

Classifying the ECJ Commissioners as “emperors” Warmington also took aim at ECJ Chairman Professor Errol Miller who he said rode roughshod over the representatives of the ECJ selected by both Parties and was a “domineering chairman who always gets his own way”. Tavares Finson said Warmington’s pronouncements, which were the focus of several news reports, had been “ill-informed, ill-mannered and boorish”.

Noting that the Commission had been “slow in responding to the attacks” Tavares Finson said the “commission does not rest on its laurels” as was being implied by Warmington.

Warmington had batted for the House to reject the report. “I don’t know why the rush (to approve the report),” he said. The MP said he was uneasy with Section 13 of the report where the Commission recommended that if a party or candidate accepts a donation without making the appropriate checks it would, in addition to any action taken by the courts, “order the forfeiture of such contribution or donation”.

Friday, Government Senator KD Knight also took issue with that recommendation, noting that the “imposition of a penalty in that way was double punishment”.

“I would suggest that this be looked at again,” he told the Senate.

“What we need to ensure is that we take the corruption out of the system,” Knight said. He, however, insisted that his comments were not to be seen as being unsupportive of the work done by the Commission.

Tuesday last, the House of Representatives accepted the report of the ECJ but on the basis that several points of disagreement raised by members would be resolved.

The report of the Commission tabled in Parliament earlier this year has recommendations ranging from the sources of contributions and donations, impermissible donors, limits on contributions, limits on election expenditure and disclosure by candidates and political parties.

Opening the debate last month, Leader of Government Business in the House and Minister with responsibility for electoral matters Phillip Paulwell, had urged the House to uphold the convention which sees all recommendations of the ECJ being rubber-stamped. But last Tuesday, that convention came under severe pressure after it became clear that several members of parliament including Warmington, were having issues with various aspects of the report.

“We have to approve it but with caution, because the report as presented is not complete and needs further work,” Opposition Leader Andrew Holness said.

Meanwhile, North East St Elizabeth Government Member Raymond Pryce, said there were some observations made by the Commission which were, in his view, “hazardous in their current form”. Pryce said the ECJ’s failure to make any mention of local government elections in its recommendations was a gross omission.

In closing the debate, Paulwell said the administration intended to have a draft Bill before the next election which is constitutionally due in five years.