Political friction has intensified in Jamaica over the withholding of a sensitive Integrity Commission report tied to the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA), as top parliamentary leaders have pushed back against growing condemnation from the country’s opposition bloc. Senate President Tom Tavares-Finson has issued a staunch defense of the decision to keep the controversial document off the parliamentary table, rejecting opposition claims that House Speaker Juliet Holness acted alone to delay its release and emphasizing that Parliament will not yield to outside pressure.
During a Friday Senate sitting, opposition lawmaker Lambert Brown raised questions about whether other Integrity Commission submissions had been received but left untabled by parliamentary leadership. In response, Tavares-Finson confirmed that the FLA-focused report had been delivered to Parliament on March 30, 2026, but remains undisclosed to the public.
For days following the revelation, the issue has roiled Jamaican politics and sparked widespread public debate. Opposition figures have accused the governing faction of intentionally delaying a report that is widely rumored to include damning findings of mismanagement and alleged improper conduct at the FLA. Much of the opposition’s criticism has centered directly on House Speaker Juliet Holness, with Opposition Leader Mark Golding arguing earlier this week that the failure to table the report promptly violates the core intent of the Integrity Commission Act.
Tavares-Finson flatly rejected all claims that Holness made the call to withhold the report unilaterally or inappropriately. In a forceful address to the Senate, he clarified that the choice was a joint one made by the body’s top presiding officers — himself as Senate President and Holness as Speaker — after formal consultation with Parliament’s clerk and in-house legal advisors. He went on to accuse critics of deliberately singling out Holness in a coordinated effort to undermine her public credibility.
“What is abundantly clear is that actors with full knowledge of the joint decision have falsely pinned the entire responsibility on the Speaker, all in a bid to besmirch her authority and tarnish her reputation,” Tavares-Finson said. “I am not shocked by these attacks. Jamaica has a long, well-documented history of segments of our society targeting and attacking women in powerful leadership positions.”
Beyond defending the process that led to the decision, Tavares-Finson also justified its legality, noting that the Integrity Commission Act does not mandate that presiding officers table received reports within any set deadline. He explained that while the commission is tasked with submitting reports to Parliament for tabling, the ultimate authority to decide if and when a report is released publicly rests with the body’s presiding leadership.
A core pillar of the government’s defense is the existence of active court proceedings tied to the report’s release. Tavares-Finson confirmed that Parliament opted to delay tabling to allow ongoing litigation to move forward, explaining that officials wanted clarity on the court’s position before making the document public. “There is currently an active court case seeking to block the disclosure of this report,” he said. “We took the position that we should let these proceedings advance to understand the court’s direction, and we agreed the report should not be tabled until the legal issues are fully aired in court.”
The Senate President also made a new disclosure during the sitting: he and Holness have received formal correspondence from Opposition Leader Mark Golding, who threatened to pursue legal action if the report is not tabled at Parliament’s next sitting. Tavares-Finson called the threat an unprecedented challenge to parliamentary governance, and said the move falls far below the standard of dignity expected from the leader of the opposition.
“Without going into excessive detail, I want to make one thing absolutely clear: the presiding officers of this Parliament will not bow to any form of intimidation or threat,” he added. “We will manage the affairs of this institution in full accordance with established protocols, our standing orders, and the Constitution of Jamaica.”