PSOJ concerned about gun slips

THE Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) has expressed concern about the findings in the recently concluded report from the Integrity Commission, which revealed that a raft of questionable actions took place at the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) between 2012 and 2018.

According to the PSOJ, these acts of impropriety are a disservice to the Jamaican people, and it is imperative that Government officials, elected and selected, be held to account for all inappropriate actions.

“The findings in this report highlight the need to ensure that public boards are carefully selected, well-trained and of the highest integrity,” said the PSOJ in a release on Wednesday.

It argued that Jamaica has taken tremendous steps to advance the governance of public bodies with the passage of the Public Bodies Management and Accountability (Nomination, Selection and Appointment to Boards) Regulations passed on December 7, 2021.

“When in force, these regulations ensure that persons appointed to serve on boards have the requisite competencies and are fit and proper. We are, however, awaiting the gazetting of these regulations and urge that this be done forthwith.

“The next step in achieving better governance will be to ensure that directors of boards are adequately trained to discharge their fiduciary responsibilities including how to handle conflicts of interest. The proper discharge of fiduciary responsibilities requires board members to act in the best interest of the organisations which they serve,” added the PSOJ as it backed the position of Security Minister Dr Horace Chang that the responsible minister be removed from the appeals process.

“We also suggest that a suitable body be mandated to conduct annual audits of the granting of licences by the FLA as it is unacceptable that it has taken four years for this report to be concluded and for these major breaches to be addressed,” said the PSOJ.

In aSpecial Report of Investigation Allegations Concerning Acts of Impropriety, Irregularity and Corruption in the Issuance of Firearm User Licences to Persons of ‘Questionable Character,released to the media by Parliament last Wednesday, the Integrity Commission bashed two former boards of the FLA and suggested that a former deputy chairman, Dennis Meadows, could face charges for his role in the granting of a firearms licence to a relative.

The commission also reported that two former ministers of national security, the Jamaica Labour Party’s Robert Montague and the People’s National Party’s Peter Bunting, allowed people of questionable character to be issued with firearms licences.

Montague resigned from the Cabinet in the wake of the report while declaring that he did nothing wrong, while Bunting has also denied any wrongdoing and has defended his actions while in charge of the security portfolio.