KINGSTON, Jamaica — Newly elected Member of Parliament for South Eastern Clarendon, Pearnel Charles Jnr, is to be sworn in when the House of Representatives resumes sitting this afternoon.

Charles, the son of House Speaker Pearnel Charles Snr and a former government senator and Cabinet minister, defeated independent candidate Dereck Lambert with 6,845 votes to 738 in the by-election held on March 2 to select a replacement for Government MP and junior minister Rudyard Spencer, who resigned in February.

Today’s sitting will also be highlighted by the tabling of the long awaited regulations for the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA).

The delay in drafting the regulations since the passage of the Bill in early 2018 has been hampering MOCA’s efforts to fulfil its mandate as a statutory law enforcement agency with operational independence and authority.

The Bill was passed during the tenure of the previous Minister of National Security, Robert Montague, who saw its passage as, “historic in changing the national security architecture”.

The regulations were expected by April 2019. Since then, Dr Horace Chang has replaced Montague as minister.

Dr Chang has described the agency as Jamaica’s answer to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) in the United States.

He has insisted that the completion of the process will bring new energy to the agency, and promised the fiscal and legislative support needed from the Government to dismantle criminal gangs, and ensure that “corruption has no place in the new Jamaica”.

The other highlight of today’s sitting will be the continuation of the 2020/21 budget debate, with Opposition spokesman on Finance Mark Golding responding to Thursday’s opening contribution from Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr Nigel Clarke on the expenditure and revenue planned for the 2020/21 budget.

Balford Henry