Miller
The Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) expects to have its proposals for legislation covering political party financing before Parliament by September, according to ECJ chairman, Professor Errol Miller.
"We now have a draft report," he told journalists and media managers at a workshop aimed at sensitising the press on the need to promote and cover issues of integrity in Jamaica.
The workshop, held at the Hilton Kingston hotel was put on by the Centre for Leadership and Governance at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies; IFES, a United States-based non-profit organisation that promotes democracy globally; the Canadian International Development Agency; and the Press Association of Jamaica.
Subject to scrutiny
Miller did not say when the document, which is currently being reviewed by the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) would be made public, but said that it would be subject to scrutiny at a series of town hall-type meetings.
State financing of political parties has been on and off Jamaica's political agenda for decades, but gained a firm foothold in recent years in the face of deepening fears of narco-dollars entering the process and the possibility of criminals gaining leverage in the legislature and/or political executive.
Potential influence
More recently, since it has emerged that a Dutch company, with which Jamaica did business, had given money to the PNP while it was in government, the focus has shifted more to the potential influence of corporate and other special interests.
By convention, proposals by the ECJ - which is for the most part made up of independent members and appointees of the two major political parties - are approved unchanged by Parliament, which Miller expects to be the case this time.
While the ECJ chairman did not give details of the proposals, he indicated it would provide requirements for the registration of political parties and for their delisting if they fail to follow the rules.
Parties will also have to be accountable to their members, keep proper records of their financing and report contributions above certain benchmark amounts to the ECJ, which will make summary reports public. Only in the event of parties failing to report the truth would all their information apparently be made public.
Regime being developed
It was not clear what level of financing parties would receive and the formula that will be used to determine this, but the regime being developed was part of the "strengthening, deepening and widening of the legal reform element" of the Jamaican electoral process.
A survey conducted for the ECJ, Miller noted, had shown that Jamaicans supported the state financing of political parties, but with one proviso: "no new taxes, no special taxes to fund it".
"What we are proposing is not a perfect law, but something that everybody can agree on ...," he said at the workshop, which was also addressed by Professor Trevor Munroe of the UWI's Centre for Leadership and Governance, and Dr Jim Vermillion, vice-president of IFES.
A summary report out of the workshop was presented by Professor Neville Ying, executive director of the Mona School of Business.
