THE joint select committee (JSC) of Parliament, now reviewing the draft job descriptions for parliamentarians will be inviting the general public to make comments and provide suggestions on the document during a series of town hall meetings.

Members of the committee at its first meeting on Tuesday at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston agreed that four town hall meetings will be held across the island to capture the views of citizens.

The committee tentatively set Sunday, September 24 as the date for the first town hall meeting, with member Floyd Green suggesting Jamaica College in St Andrew as a possible venue. This and the other dates and venues for the other meetings are to be finalised.

Green made the suggestion for town hall meetings in response to committee Chair Marisa Dalrymple-Philibert’s concern about getting grass roots Jamaicans “who elect us” involved in the process.

“It is very easy in this sort of arena to intellectualise and put guidelines and principles on things without taking note of our people, how they feel, how they act, and what they expect of us. I would like for us to find a way, set up a structure in this committee where we can hear from the ordinary person on the street what it is they [require of] us,” she said.

In making his recommendation for the public meetings, Green said it is very important that the public’s views are garnered “on what they believe the role of a Member of Parliament (MP) ought to be, because, ultimately, they judge, they decide, so they really should play a part in telling us what they’re looking for, whether it is that, for example, MPs need more autonomy or less autonomy in relation to resources”.

“It’s always a discussion that’s had on a theoretical level, but what are the people on the ground saying? What role should the MP play in the decision-making process regarding infrastructure projects and things of that nature. I think we have to hear from the people,” he said.

Earlier in the meeting, committee member Kavan Gayle suggested that specific interest groups be invited to make written submissions to the committee.

These are the Caribbean Institute of Human Resource Management, the Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica, the Jamaica Employers’ Federation, the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, the Jamaica Customer Service Association, and Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal.

The committee agreed that advertisements requesting submissions will be placed in the two major newspapers, television, radio, and on social media. Interested parties will be given four weeks within which to send in written submissions.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in a statement in Parliament in June, had announced the establishment of a joint select committee to review the written job descriptions and enhanced code of ethics which have been drafted for parliamentarians.

The job descriptions and the enhanced code of ethics are among a raft of measures Holness announced during a press conference in May, during which he said members of the political directorate will be held to account for their higher salaries as part of the Government’s compensation review for the public sector.

On June 20 Holness tabled in Parliament the job descriptions of parliamentarians as a Green Paper and a White Paper for ministers.