Make resignation letter public – Fisher
FORMER DIRECTOR of elections Orrette Fisher has no problem if the contents of his resignation letter to the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) is made public.
Fisher on Wednesday resigned from the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ), highlighting “the growing level of political influence affecting the organisation,” even as he awaited the Supreme Court’s on his legal challenge to the ECJ’s decision to remove him as director. The other objective was to determine the legitimac y of the one-year contract handed to him last year.
“I have no difficulty if the contents of my letter to the ECJ are made public. Absolutely none,” said Fisher yesterday when contacted by The Gleaner. However, the former director refused to discuss the contents, saying “it would not be proper” given that the letter was submitted to the ECJ Chairman, Dorothy Pine McLarty.
It was unclear if the letter was discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the ECJ, which appointed Glasspole Brown as acting director.
In his letter to staff at the EOJ, Fisher said, “The EOJ, as it exists today, is a far cry from the organisation that existed 23 years ago when I joined,” adding that most of the changes had been positive. He described the last two years of his tenure as “particularly challenging” but asserted that he tried to support and improve the welfare of employees and be a “positive ambassador for the organisation”.
ACALL has been made for the independent commissioners of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) to break their silence if they feel that the electoral system is being brought into disrepute.
Leader of the Opposition Dr Peter Phillips, who urged the commissioners to speak out, argued t hat t he hard-won stability of Jamaica’s electoral system had come under threat with the recent resignation of director of elections Orrette Fisher, who alleged that there had been political interference in the conduct of his job.
“We are beginning to lose confidence that the normally high standards of integrity that attach to the whole administration of the electoral system are being questioned. I put it no higher than that at this point in time,” said Phillips.
Addressing journalists at a post-Budget Debate press conference at the People’s National Party headquarters on Old Hope Road i n Kingston, Phillips said that the independent members of the ECJ had a responsibility, not to the Government or Opposition, but, ultimately, to the country.
GOVERNOR GENERAL INTERCESSION
“They have access to the good offices of the governor general if they feel that his intercession in the matter might assist. The judges sought that when they felt they were not getting a proper response (in the decision by Prime Minister Holness to appoint Bryan Sykes an acting chief justice). They (independent commissioners) have access to the general public to speak out and not to be diffident in defence of the public interest,” Phillips asserted.
The opposition leader reasoned that Jamaicans had worked too long and hard to develop a credible electoral system, which has received both regional and international acclaim, for it to be brought into question at this time.
“For the first time since 1979, we are beginning to see the unravelling of these confidences. We need to put a stop to it before it goes too far, and there is a particular obligation that falls to the independent members in this regard.”
The ECJ held a meeting yesterday, in the wake of Fisher’s resignation on Wednesday, to install an acting director of the Electoral Office of Jamaica.
The four independent commissioners of the ECJ are Dorothy Pine-McClarty, chairman; Professor Alvin Wint; Justice Karl Harrison; and Earl Jarrett.