ANCHOVY, St James — President of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) Mark Golding says Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) leader Andrew Holness should be disqualified from making himself available to once again be prime minister because his most recent statutory declarations have not been certified by the Integrity Commission (IC).

It is an escalation of Golding’s previous assertions that Holness is unfit to be prime minister because the watchdog body has not given the green light to documents he has filed.

Golding made that call in May, at the PNP’s Papine divisional conference held at The University of the West Indies (UWI).

Now, with his sights set on a general election constitutionally due by September of next year, Golding ramped up the pressure during his address to supporters who turned out for Sunday evening’s PNP constituency conference in St James Southern. The private session of the conference was held at Anchovy High School.

“Our prime minister is not in good standing with the Integrity Commission. His statutory declaration for…years has not been certified and published in a summary form in the Jamaica Gazette as required by law. That should be a disqualifying factor. He should not be eligible to run again as prime minister until he sorts that out,” stated Golding.

Under law, Holness and Golding are the only public officials whose certified declarations are made public in summary form.

Last November, Holness indicated that he was in the process of responding to a second set of questions from the IC. In its 2023/24 annual report published this July, the IC said it is close to wrapping up the processes surrounding the PM’s declarations.

On Sunday, Golding again hammered a point he has often made — that good governance is lacking within the JLP Administration led by Holness.

“Eight Members of Parliament are under investigation for illicit enrichment — a corruption offence where you have assets that you don’t have lawful income that can show how you got it. That should not be the case in our Parliament,” argued Golding.

Last month the IC, in a release clarifying its 2023-24 annual report, stated that eight parliamentarians are now being investigated for illicit enrichment when both reporting years of 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 are considered.

Last August, Holness indicated that to the best of his knowledge, no member of his Administration has been written to by the IC regarding an investigation into illicit enrichment.

Golding similarly asserted that none of his parliamentarians had been written to by the IC.

Meanwhile during the conference on Sunday the PNP’s candidate for Hanover Western, Heatha Miller Bennett, argued that among the many promises Holness had failed to deliver during his first 100 days on the job was his vow to ensure that corrupt politicians would face impeachment.

“What happened to them? All now we don’t see that happening. We don’t see any legislation being put forward for that. What is it, another promise?” asked Miller Bennett who is a lawyer by profession.