Member of Parliament for St. Andrew South West, Dr. Angela Brown-Burke has told fellow parliamentarians that they should expect to be held to a higher level of scrutiny than private citizens.
During Thursday’s meeting of the Integrity Commission Oversight Committee, some government MPs raised concerns about the intense scrutiny of their statutory declarations by the anti-corruption body and therefore called for changes to the IC Act to reflect these concerns.
In one instance, Committee Member Delroy Chuck shared that the Integrity Commission recently asked him what improvements he had made to his home and at what cost. He accused the IC of net-fishing, while complaining it was too intrusive in its actions.
In his remarks, Committee Chairman Pearnel Charles Jnr. also said that the focus of the Integrity Commission appeared to fall most often on politicians than other public officials.
But Dr. Brown-Burke declared that the position parliamentarians hold requires the intense probity.
“By virtue of voluntary for these positions, we are expecting to be held to a higher standard,” she argued, stressing that this then “has some implications for how we behave, one in relation to the our interaction with the Integrity Commission, in terms of the information that they request of us.”
Accordingly, she said, “failure to provide information by members of parliament, by ministers; I think it’s something that we really should look at carefully and deeply, for those of us who understand that we have to lead by example.”