Greg Christie Legacy bearing fruit

[Sir X]

Bill to establish single anti-corruption agency won't be tabled this year

Published: Saturday | December 21, 2013 0 Comments


Justice Minister Senator Mark Golding





Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff ReporterTHE GOVERNMENT has missed its proposed deadline of December 2013 for the tabling of legislation in Parliament to establish a single anti-corruption agency, but Justice Minister Senator Mark Golding says the bill will be tabled early in the new year.
Golding told Senators yesterday that the Integrity Commission bill to establish the single anti-corruption agency, the disabilities bill, the occupation safety and health bill, a new road traffic bill, and the DNA bill would be brought to Parliament next year.
The single anti-corruption agency was first proposed by former contractor general, Greg Christie.
He wanted the agency to be vested with the exclusive mandate to criminally investigate and prosecute all corruption and related criminal offences.
It is anticipated that the current commissions of Parliament that will comprise the single anti-corruption agency are the Corruption Prevention Commission, the Integrity Commission, and the Office of the Contractor General.
Commenting on the achievements of the Senate during 2013, Golding said the Upper House passed 40 bills, nearly twice the average number passed each year for the last four years.
He said two other important pieces of legislation to be passed next year are the anti-gang bill, now before a joint select committee, and the bankruptcy and insolvency bill now before Parliament.
Golding said about 10 of the bills passed were structural benchmarks under the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, "while three-quarters had nothing to do with the IMF

[Sir X]

This is good news ,keep your eyes on this one.Getting ready for the Chinese Invasion.

[Sir X]

FINALLY
Published: Sunday | December 22, 2013 0 Comments
Rosalea Hamilton
Rosalea Hamilton
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Senate paves way for one-stop business registration centre

Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter

THE RED tape that has significantly slowed the pace at which persons register a business name or company in Jamaica appears to have finally been cut with the passage of the Companies (Amendment) Act 2013 last Friday in the Senate.

Effectively, the Government has introduced the much-talked-about 'one-stop shop' where the registration of business names and companies can be done within a short time.

Piloting the legislation in the Upper House, Senator Mark Golding said the bureaucratic process faced by persons to register a business had rendered the process inefficient.

He said the lethargic process of registering a business in Jamaica was a contributory factor to the country's poor ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business report. Jamaica, currently, ranks 94 overall out of 189 countries.

For Professor Rosalea Hamilton, the former president of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Alliance, the bill is an important piece of legislation that was long overdue.

"I think the legislation will encourage some businesses to get registered but I don't see an influx of many businesses wanting to register because of this amendment to the Companies Act," Hamilton told The Sunday Gleaner.

STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE

"In the context of our current weak economy where many businesses are struggling to survive, micro and small enterprises (MSEs) are likely to be more concerned about earning enough income to stay afloat rather than registering their business.

"When registration is combined with other supportive activities to facilitate growth and profitability, more MSEs will be inclined to register," argued Hamilton.

Persons registering a new company or business name are required to visit multiple government offices to submit information which is required by law.

The agencies to be visited to complete registration are Tax Administration Jamaica, the National Housing Trust, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the HEART Trust/NTA .

The new bill creates a 'one-stop shop' at the Companies Office of Jamaica to allow persons to complete all registration linked to a business or company at one location.

"This is a milestone because, up to now, you had to trek around from one government office to another and it takes time, and is a tedious process," Golding pointed out.

Recently, ICD Group CEO Peter Melhado called on the Government to set up such a one-stop shop to reduce the amount of red tape faced by persons attempting to set up businesses.

MORE ATTRACTIVE

He was supported by business leaders, including Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica President Chris Zacca, who agreed that a single entity responsible for the setting up of businesses would be more attractive to investors.

Zacca, who noted there was too much doubling-up in the process to get major investments off the ground, said that based on his estimation Jamaica was missing out on some $30 billion worth of investment opportunities because of continued bureaucracy.

Metry Seaga, deputy president of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association, however, warned at the time that an inefficient one-stop shop would be just as bad as what currently obtains in the public sector.

"It is less about a one-stop shop, in my opinion, and more about making the shops that we have efficient," he said then.

STRUCTURAL BENCHMARK

The new legislation is one of the International Monetary Fund's structural benchmarks which had a deadline of December 2013 for its passage.

Commenting on the impact of the bill on the start-up of businesses, Sophia Fraser Binns, government senator, said it would now take a maximum of two days to register a business, compared with the previous six days.

She said the process would now involve the completion of an eight-page form, compared with the previous 13 forms to be completed.

Dr Nigel Clarke, opposition senator, indicated his support for the bill but added that more needs to be done.

"It is important that the bill is followed up by the kinds of reforms that promote greater coordination among the relevant government agencies and also within the government agencies, to ensure that the total time involved to be duly registered ... is substantially reduced to internationally competitive norms," said Clarke

The single-agency concept where all aspects relating to the registration of a company or business name would be done at the same location was previously being pursued by the Jamaica Labour Party government and was a key reform trumpeted by former Prime Minister Bruce Golding.

[Sir X]

This guy is doing somegood things.

Senator Mark Golding is an attorney-at-law, specialising in the areas of corporate finance, capital markets and mergers and acquisitions. He has been lead counsel in many public and private sector issues of domestic and international debt and equity securities, and in several large corporate mergers and acquisitions. He has taken a leave of absence from Hart Muirhead Fatta, the firm of which he has been a partner since 1993, to assume his appointment as Minister of Justice.
Senator Golding studied law at Oxford University, where he graduated with first class honours. Wishing to return home to practise, he attended the Norman Manley Law School in order to be called to the Jamaican Bar, and received its prize for the most outstanding student of the class of 1987-89. He then won a Commonwealth Scholarship and continued his studies through at the University of London, obtaining a master’s degree in commercial and corporate law.
In 1993 the opportunity arose for him to join with two young Jamaican investment bankers to form Jamaica’s first investment bank, Dehring Bunting & Golding Limited (DB&G). The business flourished to become a leading and innovative part of Jamaica’s financial landscape. In 2006, DB&G was acquired by the Scotia Group. In January 2010, he joined with some of his former DB&G colleagues to form Proven Investments Limited, an investment company which is listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Senator Golding served on the Task Force which performed the developmental work leading to the creation of the Financial Services Commission as Jamaica’s regulator for the securities, insurance, unit trusts, mutual funds and pensions industries. He also represented the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica on the Matalon Tax Reform Committee, and before the Joint Select Committee considering Companies Bill 2004.
Senator Golding has been a director of several leading companies, including GraceKennedy, The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica, Kingston Wharves and CariCris, the Caribbean Region’s first credit rating agency. He is the Chairman of the Mona Rehabilitation Foundation (founded by his late father, Professor Sir John Golding), and was formerly a director of Food For The Poor Jamaica.
He was appointed to Jamaica’s Senate by the Leader of the Opposition in September 2007. He served as the Opposition Spokesperson on Industry & Commerce until May 2011, and then as Shadow Minister for Justice, until being appointed Minister of Justice in January 2012.