Prime Minister Bruce Golding says it will take an individual the likes of Contractor General Greg Christie to head the Office of the Special Prosecutor, which will be mandated to monitor statutory declarations from public officials and prosecute those who engage in corrupt conduct.

"I don't know who will ever emerge as the special prosecutor; there is a process for the appointment but I would like to see somebody emerge who approaches this job with the ferocity and the seriousness of the current contractor general; that's what I am looking for," Golding told Parliament Wednesday in opening the debate on the Corruption Prevention (Special Prosecutor) Act.

"I say that as someone who has not always agreed with the contractor general's position... but I respect his authority. I insist of course that in the same way that I have to know the limits of my authority he must also understand the limits of his but moreso I respect the seriousness with which he tackles his job; he is a no-nonsense person," Golding said, noting that while Christie "annoys many people and gets on many people's nerves" he could never be accused of "sleeping on the job".

"If in the course of the work he does, he makes errors, he is human like anybody else but I don't think anybody can question the sincerity and the determination with which he approaches his job. I want to see somebody like that emerge as special prosecutor because I believe the business of corruption requires that kind of aggressive, no-nonsense, fearless approach and we have created the framework for it," he added.

Golding told the House that it had taken the administration some time to bring the provision to Parliament because it was "a new type of legislation, because of the type of powers and functions that it seeks to vest".

Said the prime minister: "We have always felt that there is need for a more focused, more effective, more targeted mechanism to tackle the issue of corruption in public administration. It is something that affects all of us, it is something that taints not just the membership of this House. It is something that undermines the institutions of authority in the country."

One major sticking point during the deliberations of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament on the provision had been the issue of the relationship between the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP). At that time the suggestion had been that the Office of the Special Prosecutor would be a Commission of Parliament. Subsequently the committee agreed that it be made a department of Government.

Minister Golding said Wednesday that to further resolve that issue he had proposed a further amendment to make it so that the special prosecutor would be subject to the direction and authority of no person other than the director of public prosecutions to guarantee that office as much independence as is allowed under the Constitution. The provision was passed in the Senate last month with 49 amendments.

The Corruption Prevention "Special Prosecutor" Act will repeal the 2001 Corruption (Prevention) Act and the 1973 Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act, to establish the Office of the Special Prosecutor as a department of Government with the specific mandate to monitor statutory declarations from public officials and to prosecute those who engage in corrupt conduct.

Jamaica in 2005 signed the United Nations Convention against corruption, one of the requirements under that convention. The special prosecutor, who will be appointed by the governor general, must be an attorney-at-la with experience as a high court judge or a senior deputy director of public prosecutions.