By Vernon Daley, Staff ReporterJAMAICA LABOUR Party (JLP) leader, Edward Seaga, has put back on the agenda the issue of impeaching public officials who abuse their offices.
Mr. Seaga moved a resolution in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, calling for the establishment of a joint select committee to conclude discussions on the matter which was given much play during major constitutional reform debates in the 1990s.
The select committee being called for by Mr. Seaga would specifically look at the composition of a parliamentary committee, which would be responsible for recommending public officials for impeachment. This would clear the way for the preparation and passing of appropriate legislation, Mr. Seaga said.
According to the Opposition Leader, elected and non-elected persons in high positions are often guilty of abusing their offices.
Mr. Seaga said public officials have been guilty of a failure to perform duties which they are charged to perform; abuse of statutory power or official authority; conduct which demeans their office; and corruption or misappropriation of public funds or property.
All this, he said, was occurring in a situation where no mechanism exists in the country's system of governance to deal with offences which are not breaches of the civil or criminal law.
During the 1990s the Constitutional Reform Commission considered and accepted a proposal from the JLP for the introduction of a process of impeachment.
This mechanism was later agreed by the joint select parliamentary committee on Constitutional Reform, save only for the composition of the parliamentary committee that would recommend impeachment for public officials.
Impeachment is a procedure in which accusations are brought by a legislative or executive branch of Government against civil officials. The penalty for impeachment is usually the loss of office and the barring of the guilty party from holding public office at any time for the rest of his/her life.
