KINGSTON, Jamaica – Questions raised by the Opposition about the treatment of reports in Parliament triggered a heated exchange between members on both sides of the aisle during Tuesday’s sitting.

Opposition member Julian Robinson was questioning Speaker of the House of Representatives, Marisa Dalrymple Philibert, about her non-tabling of Auditor General’s Department (AuGD) reports after she tabled nine reports from the Integrity Commision (IC) on Tuesday.

Dalrymple Philibert had explained at the sitting of the House last week that she would be withholding three AuGD reports for two months to correct an unlawful practice which offends the Jamaican constitution.

She said that all AuGD reports have always been tabled in the House upon receipt, whether they pertain to a ministry, an agency or a public body.

“However, the practice in general, is not, in my understanding, in keeping with section 30 of the Financial Audit and Administration (FAA) Act. That section – section 30 – provides for the Auditor General’s Report on a public body to be tabled where the minister with responsibility for that public body fails to report to this Parliament within a two-month period,” she said.

Robinson, however, pointed out on Tuesday that Dalrymple Philibert’s reasoning for withholding the AuGD’s report, based on her interpretation of Section 30 of the FAA Act, did not apply in this case.

“On the issue of the AuG’s report..having read section 30 of the FAA Act…the provision relates to public bodies and the two entities which you refer to are executive agencies which are governed by an executive agency Act. It also refers to the Auditor General doing an audit of annual accounts, whereas in this case, they were performance audits. So even without the opinion of the attorney general, it is clear to me that the provision, which you relied on is not relevant to the reports which were done by the Auditor General,” he said.

“So I’m trying to understand the principle on which you are operating. You have reversed last week’s decision. You have thankfully tabled reports from the Integrity Commission, but I’m not understanding given that reversal, why you would not table the Auditor General’s reports since you are still awaiting an opinion from the Attorney General’s Department,” he continued.

After Dalrymple Philibert responded to say she has not reversed anything and stands corrected on the advice of the attorney general which she awaits, Government member Robert Montague rose to comment that he was “a little perturbed” that the member from South East St Andrew has knowledge that the reports in the Speaker’s possession are performance audits.

“How does he know that? How does he know what kind of report the Auditor General has submitted to the Parliament? How does he know? Is it that he has sight of these reports? Something is not right. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark!,” he said.

Montague insisted that Robinson needed to inform the House how he came by the information on the reports which have not been tabled.

“Madam Speaker. Let him stand up. Stand up and talk, you coward!,” he shouted.

“Do you want to inform the house how you wrote your six page response when the report was just tabled? Since you want to go there, did you have sight of the report before?,” he said, in reference to the Commission’s 2017 special investigation report on the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) which had concluded that Montague, along with Peter Bunting, had acted improperly in the award of gun licences to men of “questionable character” during their tenures as national security minister.

Montague continued arguing off mic to which Robinson yelled “Siddung!”. He also retorted, “Dunce like you,” to another utterance.

Dalrymple Philibert rose to her feet and shut down any further discussion, stating: “I have ruled and I expect you to respect my ruling, and member from the left, you can answer your questions that you have brought light at a different time. I have ruled on the matter. I have said why the reports have been tabled and I’m moving to the next item.”

Earlier in the sitting, the Speaker had explained that six of the nine IC reports were previously tabled in the Senate on June 30, 2023, so they are already in the public space.

“The other three reports concern an employee of the [Jamaica] Customs Agency, the annual report of the Integrity Commission, the annual report of the Private Security Regulation Authority which were received subsequently to the other reports tabled in the Senate. These reports are now being tabled subject to further discussions with the Attorney General’s Department,” Dalrymple Philibert said.

– Alecia Smith