Parliamentary committee to review job descriptions, code of conduct for Ministers and MPs

A Joint Select Committee of Parliament is to be established to review the job descriptions and code of conduct for Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs).

Prime Minister Andrew Holness made the disclosure during a statement to the House of Representatives on June 6.

“The process is well advanced… . We have consulted with the Opposition. We have, so far, shared one document with them and others will follow shortly. So, I am giving notice to the House that next week we will name the Committee and begin the full review of both the job descriptions and the code of conduct,”  Holness said.

“We hope that, within short order, we can establish a process where these job descriptions can be finalised and made public and become the template, the framework against which the execution of our duties can be judged by the public,” he added.

Holness informed that the committee will also be tasked to articulate an accountability framework.

“It is important that the Parliament establishes its own integrity,” he said.

Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding, for his part, said the Opposition “intends to engage constructively in this process”.

“We are in favour of anything that would entrench integrity in the life of parliamentarians, clarity what our roles are so that the wider society understands and can hold us accountable for what we do or don't do,” he noted.

He said that the Opposition received the job descriptions on Tuesday, and “we will review them and we will name our representatives to the Joint Select Committee that is being established, and we look forward to receiving the draft code of conduct so we can do the same”.

- JIS News

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