Headlines:
| Punish delinquent candidates – Munroe |
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| Wednesday, 03 December 2008 | |
 A candidate in the last general elections is calling for
criminal sanctions to be brought against his fellow candidates who have not
filed their election expenses, in keeping with the requirements of the law.According to Professor Trevor Munroe, this practice is not in keeping with the rule of law and those who are guilty should not be allowed to get away with it. One-hundred-and-forty-six candidates contested the 60 seats in the general election held on September 3, 2007. Of that number, only 67 filed their financial returns as required at Section 60 of the Representation of the People Act. Among those who failed to file were 30 candidates from the People's National Party (PNP), 26 from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and 23 third-party and independent candidates. Professor Munroe who unsuccessfully contested the election for the PNP in Eastern St. Andrew, is incensed that the Electoral Commission of Jamaica has not taken action against the delinquents. "I regard this and I think any citizen who wishes to uphold the rule of law (will also regard this) as unacceptable ... if the fine is $5 or $5 million, the rule of law is brought into disrepute if no action is taken, especially if those who make the law, break the law." Section 101 of the Representation of the People Act empowers the courts to impose a fine of $20,000 to $80,000 or a prison term of up to three years on any candidate who fails to file a report or who makes a false declaration. Out of our hands - ECJ  Professor Munroe voiced his concerns Wednesday morning
during a forum staged by the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ), at the Mona
Visitors Lodge, University of the West Indies.In response, Chairman of the Commission, Professor Errol Miller, argued that it was not very easy for the ECJ to pursue this matter. "Not everything is under our control and we have found as a Commission, that where we have the means of enforcement in our own hands, we do a far better job than relying on services from outside." Professor Munroe is particularly outraged that four candidates reported that they incurred no expense in their election campaign. The four are James Robertson, Ernest Smith and Arthur Williams of the JLP and Richard Azan of the PNP. Big campaign spending  Meanwhile, the Elections Report of 2007 presents
contrasting pictures of campaign expenditure, as reported by various candidates
from the two major political parties for the September 3 general election.At the head of the stream, Prime Minister Bruce Golding reported spending $961,850 for his re-election in West Kingston while his opponent, Joseph Witter, says he spent $12,000. In South West St. Andrew, Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller reported to the authorities that she spent $1,876,000, while her JLP opponent, Garnett Reid reported expenditure of $1.6 million. The largest expenditure reported was the $4.3 million indicated by the JLP's Lennon Richards in a losing battle with Dr. Morais Guy of the PNP in Central St. Mary. According to the electoral office, Dr. Peter Phillips of the PNP spent $2.8 million for his re-election in East Central St. Andrew. Dr. Phillips' son, Mikael, reported spending $2.5 million in East Rural St. Andrew which he lost to the JLP's Joseph Hibbert who reported spending $339,000. The smallest expenditure reported was $6,000 by the JLP's Peter Sangster who contested the East Kingston & Port Royal seat against the PNP's Phillip Paulwell. JLP General Secretary, Karl Samuda, reported spending $35,000 in North Central St. Andrew while Bobby Montague reportedly spent $11,500 in West St. Mary. |