The Editor, Sir:

So rare it is that the media champion national institutions in Jamaica, and never on the front page, that I find myself in an unwanted position of criticising members of an institution that you find worthy of praise.

I am responding to your article in The Daily Gleaner, June 19, 2007, on the Senate and the bill that makes open voting an offence.

The discussion about mandatory sentencing guidelines is one that I have no intention of entering. I will leave that to lawyers and academics who no doubt will salivate when approaching these cross-roads, as they provide ample opportunities for longwinded presentations and social-science theories, important as they may be.

What I take issue with is by far more pedestrian and practical. Before a bill reaches either or both houses it is drafted by the Government drafters at the Chief Parliamentary Council who, I am certain are, au fait with current trends in legislative drafting.

The draft bill is then sent to the Attorney-General's Office and to the originating agency for discussion, then it goes to the Legislative Committee of Cabinet to be read out loud word for word and each sentence and clause discussed. It boggles the mind that at no time during these discussions that no one saw or felt that the punishment suggested for the offence was not in keeping with current legislative practices.

The chairman of Cabinet's Legislative committee is surrounded by devoted and qualified public servants who should give advice on these matters so that a 30-year convention, that the Leader of Government Business tried so valiantly to protect, would not have been cast aside in such a cavalier manner.

Oh, and by the way, every offence in the Representation of the People Act carries penalties that are worded in an identical manner.

The Electoral Commission is about to send to Parliament a report on political party and campaign financing. This report will undoubtedly be one of the most significant reports that will generate legislation that if adhered to, will change the way political parties are financed, make them transparent and possibly more accountable to the public and their members for significant monies donated to them. Maybe this is why it was important for this convention to be broken at this time so that an appropriate amount of cherry picking and if necessary, watering down can take place.

We will see.

I am, etc.,

DANVILLE WALKER

Electoral Commission of Jamaica

Director of Elections