Another Opposition walk-out of Parliament last evening

Two sides clashed over untabled IC probe on FLA 

Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Opposition staged another walk-out of parliament last evening after clashing with the government over the untabled Integrity Commission (IC) probe into allegations of corruption and impropriety at the Firearms Licensing Authority (FLA).

This comes three weeks after it staged a walk-out over the suspension of one of its own, Angella Brown-Burke, for meddling with the mace. Last evening, both sides of the House of Representatives engaged in a verbal sparring over the merits and demerits of having the report, which was sent to Parliament on March 30 this year for tabling, but to date has not been done. 

The writing was on the wall from last weekend when Opposition Leader Mark Golding released to the media a letter penned to House Speaker Juliet Holness, demanding the report be tabled and questioning the excuse being given for it not to be done. He also made good his promise to seek answers from the House Speaker on the matter while warning that this action was a strike against the country’s democracy and good governance. 

“The whole purpose and objective of the Integrity Commission Act is thwarted and undermined if the investigative work of the IC, culminating in a report sent to Parliament, is not tabled on a timely basis. This is affecting the democracy of the country, its governance, and the public has a right to see it and we demand that it be tabled today,” the Opposition Leader declared.

Verbal sparring ignited

Golding was scathing in his criticism that the Parliament tabled four reports on civil servants who breached provisions of the Integrity Commission Act, but not the FLA report sent to the legislature seven weeks ago. However, Leader of Government Business, Floyd Green, countered, dismissing Golding’s suggestion that the Parliament was suppressing the FLA report.

“There is absolutely no suppression. There is absolutely no undermining and there is absolutely no infringement on our democracy,” Green remarked while referencing the Ian Hayles matter in 2017, when the then Office of the Contractor General’s report on him was not tabled by Parliament as the matter was brought before the court.

However, in that matter, the court had granted an injunction to Hayles to block the Parliament from tabling the report. Golding countered, saying in the Hayles matter, the court ruled that if the parliament so desires, it could table a report, irrespective of the matter being the subject of litigation. He made the point that “….there is no court order and there could not properly be any court order affecting the tabling of this report.” 

Continuing, Golding said, “We are sure that this report contains very serious matters that the public, the Opposition, and the media have a right to see…….and yet we see it being suppressed by the delay in tabling it. That is untenable” 

Walk-out triggered

The walk-out was triggered when Westmoreland Eastern Member of Parliament, Dr Dayton Campbell sought to ask questions regarding the non-tabling of the report but acting House Speaker, Heroy Clarke, who was in the chair, would have none of it, refusing to entertain any questions on the matter. In protest, the Opposition members walked out of the legislature, leaving the government side to continue the business of the Parliament.

In his letter to the Speaker last week, the Opposition Leader wrote that he was alarmed by the contents of a newspaper article referring to the FLA report, though being sent to Parliament on March 30, 2026, but has still not been tabled. The newspaper article noted that the House Speaker was alerted to the fact that the report addresses “allegations of corruption, impropriety, and irregularities in the grant, variation, and revocation of firearm licences and storage of firearms and ammunition at the FLA.”

“There is therefore clearly a strong public interest in exposing and addressing any impropriety or irregularities affecting the FLA’s operations…It would be inimical to the pursuit of that fundamental objective for a public body like the FLA, merely by filing Court proceedings applying for judicial review, to be able to cast a cloak of silence over an investigative report to which the law intends for parliamentarians, the media and the wider society to have prompt access via prompt tabling in Parliament,” Golding reasoned.

He said the existence of Court proceedings cannot be a lawful or proper basis for the continuing non-disclosure of this report.