The Jamaican parliament must urgently clarify when, or if, it considers it obligatory to acquiesce to pre-emptive actions by citizens, using the courts, to stop the legislature from taking actions that have implications for public policy, good governance and behaviour in public office.

It is also important for the Court to speak with clarity on its own powers and the bar that should be met for any such action.  In the view of The Gleaner’s Editorial Board, that bar should be extremely high.

These questions have currency against the background of this newspaper’s revelation on Sunday that a report by the Integrity Commission (IC) on an investigation into the Firearm Licensing Authority (FLA) has languished in the legislature for six weeks because the FLA has gone to court on the matter.  Without being tabled in Parliament, the report, because of provision in the Integrity Commission Act (clause 56), can’t be published, effectively rendering the document - and its findings - secret. At least for now.