Information Minister Dana Morris Dixon says she has not seen a breach of data by Member of Parliament of Portland Western Daryl Vaz when he shared information with the media about Mark Golding’s citizenship status.

Vaz has received backlash from the opposition following a local radio interview where he revealed that Golding got his Jamaican passport at age 46 after serving as a member of the House of Representatives.

Nekeisha Burchell, opposition spokesperson for information and public communication, has since accused Vaz of disclosing Golding’s private information from the Passport Citizenship and Immigration Agency (PICA).

Burchell questioned how such sensitive information could even be accessed and disclosed by Vaz.

However, Morris Dixon, while speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday (May 22), dismissed the accusations against Vaz of a data breach.

“He was very publicly clear on social media that the information he received came from a member of the opposition party. He said that very clearly. We have not seen a breach of data in this instant. I believe what he may have been saying—nothing is secret—is that when you are a public official, there are always people who know things about you and there are always people who, for whatever reason, may pass information on to you, and I think that is what he means,” she began,

“There is no way that he would be saying it’s ok to breach privacy because he is the minister that had oversight of the Data Protection Act before it came to the Office of the Prime Minister, so he is very seized of the rules, and I have no doubt that he would have tried in any way to breach the data privacy rules because he is a critical part of promulgating those rules,” the minister explained.

Morris Dixon, who also has direct oversight for Skills and Digital Transformation, said the government has committed to protecting the privacy of Jamaicans, particularly through the implementation of the Data Protection Act.

Vaz has moved to hit back at critics, stating that his source came from within the Opposition People’s National Party.