Declaring that the days of public officials routinely ignoring or breaching the various pieces of integrity legislation are no more, Integrity Commission Chairman Justice (retired) Seymour Panton has blasted some parliamentarians who, he says, have launched a concentrated attack on the body.

“Those days are over. It is no longer business as usual,” Panton declared in the chairman’s remarks published as part of the commission’s annual report for 2022-2023 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

His biting comments represent the latest salvo in the commission’s war of words with Government parliamentarians.

Charging that utterances by some parliamentarians have been “abusive” and “disrespectful”, Panton said, “As a commission of Parliament, one would have expected that Parliament, as a whole, would be working with the commission in a co-operative way with a view to lessening, if not eradicating, corruption in Jamaica. However, much of what has been happening in Parliament in recent times indicates that there is a concerted attack by some parliamentarians on the institution. It is as if there is a desire by them for the institution to be dismantled or at least frozen by fear.”

He added that some parliamentarians have used libellous language in launching personal attacks — under the cover of parliamentary privilege — against individuals connected to the commission.

“Right-thinking Jamaicans here and abroad have expressed to me and other commissioners how appalled they have been by the behaviour of these parliamentarians. Some have even taken the vitriol [on to] party political platforms. This is a great pity. I am sure that the foreigners in our midst are taking note of these developments. I am seeing true characters coming to the fore from some of the presentations and what I see does not look good,” said Panton.

He noted that the Integrity Commission has made submissions for improvement to the legislation which governs its functions, but those submissions and suggestions have not been addressed.

“Instead, it seems that at the top of the parliamentary committee’s agenda is the removal of a key member of the commission — the auditor general. This is surprising to me, the other commissioners, the staff of the commission, and to members of the public who are concerned about the general perception of corruption in our beautiful country,” he said.

“I am stating emphatically again, for the record, and for posterity, that I am against this proposal as it will only weaken the commission. The auditor general has been a fixture on the bodies set up to monitor the behaviour of public officials in their public roles. That has been the position for approximately 50 years. I am not aware of anything that has happened since 2017 to warrant the removal of the auditor general. In fact, from what I have seen, there is clear reason for the auditor general to be on the commission,” added Panton.

He argued that the commission is merely carrying out its mandate under the law, which is to combat corruption through the development, implementation and enforcement of anti-corruption legislation, policy and initiatives.

“The commissioners, in particular, are individuals who do not need to blow their own trumpet. We are persons who have good records locally and internationally, through dedicated, hard, honest, sincere work. None of us needs the commission to burnish our image. We are persons who love our country, Jamaica, and wish to see this cloud of corruption removed.

“We were appointed by the governor general on the basis of our personal record. We do not wear party political garb, and reject any assertion of partisanship. We wish for the world to see Jamaica in a brighter light, and hope that parliamentarians, in particular, will cooperate with the commission, instead of trying to tear it down,” said Panton, a former president of Jamaica’s Court of Appeal.

He added: “I urge parliamentarians to stop the nitpicking and the use of derogatory language. The executive director and directors were also appointed by the governor general on the recommendation of the commission after an independent selection process conducted by an independent agency. So, it is malicious for anyone to say that party political affiliation played a part in the appointment of anyone.”