IN JAMAICA: Lawmakers To Be Kept Busy This Year....Governor General Sir Patrick Allen said the National Disabilities Bill will be tabled. This proposed law will provide for further protection and legal entrenchment of the rights of persons with disabilities.

Published: Friday | April 4, 2014

LAWMAKERS SHOULD be kept busy in the new legislative year with several pieces of legislation, some in gestation for extended periods, to be tabled for deliberation and passage.

Governor General Sir Patrick Allen inspects
 the Guard of Honour of the First Battalion
of the Jamaica Regiment of the Jamaica
Defence Force during the ceremonial opening
 of the 2014-2015 session of Parliament
 at Gordon House in Kingston yesterday
 - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

The Integrity Commission Bill to establish a single Anti-Corruption entity, which was tabled late in the just concluded 2013-2014 legislative year, will return to Parliament for debate and passage.

The bill will pave the way for a single body to assume the functions of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, the Integrity Commission and the Office of the Contractor General.

The National Contracts Commission (NCC) will be placed within its own independent administrative structure.

Another critical proposed statute to be introduced in the current legislative year is the Evidence (Amendment) Bill. It will provide for a more efficient trial process, by facilitating a more straightforward introduction of computer records into evidence. It will allow for the uncontested reports of experts to be admitted into evidence without the need to call the expert.

In delivering the Throne Speech during the ceremonial opening of Parliament yesterday, Governor General Sir Patrick Allen said the National Disabilities Bill will be tabled. This proposed law will provide for further protection and legal entrenchment of the rights of persons with disabilities. more