ONE of the areas in which I sometimes make presentations to various audiences is that of Coping with Stress. Very often there is some voice in the audience making a comment or raising a question to the effect that "My granny never knew anything about stress; how come all this talk about stress these days?".

While it may be true to say that the language may be new and as such reflects something of the reality of life in the contemporary world, it is also true to say that stress has never been absent from human experience as persons interact with each other and face the challenges of life.

I often hear a similar kind of attitude in relation to discussions of corruption. The question is posed in terms of what appears to be a constant focus on corruption, and is expressed at times in terms of a spirit of irritation and impatience.

Most often I find this response forthcoming from persons who feel a sense of frustration with the constant re-surfacing of evidence of corruption in the realm of governance and the operations of the public sector, and the seeming lack of the will to plug the holes and to bring to book those who violate the anti-corruption measures.

This sense of frustration is also expressed by those who feel that both the Government and the Opposition are using the issue of corruption to score political points, rather than to take the necessary steps to see that the law has teeth and is enforced.

At the same time there are those who would like to see that the voices and institutions committed to the anti-corruption path are silenced. Certainly, the Office of the Contractor General as well as the person of the contractor general have become primary targets in this regard, with some even calling for constraints to be placed on his authority.

This perspective is not just a private one held by individual citizens but must also be seen in the response which successive governments have made to the recommendations of the contractor general in his Annual Report for adjustments to the law and which have normally been met with polite expressions of support but not with the legislative action to support the same.

For those who take the route of cynicism and express the view that corruption will always be a part of any society, or are of the opinion that corruption is a contemporary preoccupation about which some fanatics have become the flag-bearers, I cannot help but, as a Christian, point to the biblical tradition which makes it absolutely clear that corruption has always been seen as an abhorrence in the sight of God and which practice was condemned among the people of God.

Rather than doing a Bible study, I shall simply point to one passage of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures which, coincidentally, is assigned as a reading in some lectionaries in this week when the international community is focused on corruption. In a well-known passage from Isaiah 5 we find these verses:

8 Woe to you who add house to house

and join field to field

till no space is left

and you live alone in the land.....

20 Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter......

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

and clever in their own sight......

23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

but deny justice to the innocent.

What is at stake here is a denunciation of the failure of moral integrity which leads to corruption and social injustice as persons manipulate the system for their own benefit, using their wealth or position of power and by subverting the system of justice.

For those whose starting point may not be religious in defining corruption, the question may still remain, how must I understand corruption in contemporary terms? Many definitions have been offered. Here I would offer one which I have found helpful in capturing the scope of corruption and in outlining its impact on the life of individuals and the society.

"Corruption is an issue that affects all countries around the world. It can refer to the destruction of one's honesty or loyalty through undermining moral integrity or acting in a way that shows a lack of integrity or honesty. It also refers to those who use a position of power or trust for dishonest gain. Corruption undermines democracy, creates unstable governments, and sets countries back economically. Corruption comes in various forms such as bribery, law-breaking without dealing with the consequences in a fair manner, unfairly amending election processes and results, and covering mistakes or silencing whistle blowers (those who expose corruption in the hope that justice would be served)."

So serious is the global reach of corruption and its impact on the life of people across the world that the United Nations has found it necessary to devote a day each year toward focusing on corruption. By resolution 58/4 of October 31, 2003, the General Assembly designated December 9 as International Anti-Corruption Day.

This decision was taken in order to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the United Nations Convention against Corruption in combating and preventing it. The Assembly urged all states and competent regional economic integration organisations to sign and ratify the United Nations Convention against Corruption as soon as possible in order to ensure its rapid entry into force. This year the theme for the observance of this day is 'Don't Let Corruption Kill Development'.

Our Government is a signatory to this Convention, but, as we should all be aware, ratifying an agreement by adding one's signature does not in and of itself lead to implementation of the necessary action and the fulfilment of obligations. It is up to us as citizens to hold our government to fulfilling its obligation at various levels of the life of the society.

However, this will never happen if we do not educate ourselves concerning the nature of corruption, because the real tragedy is that many of us are not only ignorant concerning the range and scope of corruption but we are also accepting manifestations of corruption as part of the way of life in Jamaica and as something which we must just accept.

At another level, it is becoming clear that persons in our society understand corruption to be a part of the system of governance and are prepared to excuse it or even rationalise it when the political party they support constitutes the government and is being called to account for such activities.

I am grateful to our own contractor general for opening my eyes to the complex nature of corruption in a speech which he delivered to the 14th Annual School of Business Administration, University of Technology, Jamaica, Students' Conference in 2009. Here I want to highlight a number of points as presented by him to elucidate the point.

"Corruption comes in many guises. Bribery, extortion, fraud, trafficking, embezzlement, nepotism and cronyism -- are but a few different manifestations of it.

"Even the most straight-forward acts of bribery need not always involve the exchange of money. Other gifts or advantages, such as membership of an exclusive club, or promises of scholarships for children, have been used as "sweeteners" to clinch deals.

"Whatever form it takes, corruption is always a two-way transaction. It requires a supply side (the briber) and a demand side (the one who receives the bribe). That is why measures must be deigned to hit both sides of the corruption equation.

"There are different degrees of corruption too. Some would distinguish between "petty" corruption and "grand corruption. The former usually involves small sums paid to low-level officials to "grease the wheels" or to cut through bureaucratic red tape."

"The headline-making cases of large multinational companies paying millions of dollars to government leaders or politicians to obtain lucrative business contracts, are examples of corruption on a grander scale."

"When corruption permeates a country's political and economic institutions, it is no longer a matter of a few dishonest individuals, but rather institutional, systemic corruption.

"It is a phenomenon which thrives where institutions are weak or non-existent. And it is strongly related to poor governance."

It should be clear to all and sundry that corruption is not just a matter for government, but must involve the very way in which we do business as a society, whether in trying to get a birth certificate, to get our cars passed at the Examination Depot, or to transact business in the public or private sector.

So the observance of International Anti-Corruption Day must not be about attacking politicians for their failure once more, but a time of self-examination for all of us who in self-righteousness pass the money under the table or grease the palm of some public official because we do not have the time to wait or to waste.

But having said that, we must move on to press our government to see that adequate legislative controls are in place to ensure greater levels of transparency and accountability of public institutions and government, and further, that there is the mechanism for redress where such corruption is identified.

It is true that there are a number of pieces of legislation which have been enacted to deal with corruption, such as The Parliament (Integrity of Members) Act (1973), and The Contractor General Act (1983) and (1999), but it is apparent from the Annual Report of the Contractor General, from the deliberations of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, and from current debates in the society that there are still too many loopholes in the system and there is need for strengthening the institutional framework for addressing corruption.

In this regard, the call for the consolidation of the anti-corruption institutions into one effective body needs to receive serious attention and not be treated as another political game between the Government and the Opposition.

We are naturally focused on economic recovery at this time, and there is a tendency to treat matters of morality and social justice as secondary concerns, but one of the most startling things to come to light is the global cost of corruption each year. One statistic available from the World Bank Institute in 2004 estimated that more than $1 trillion (US$1,000 billion) has been paid in bribes each year globally. While this is mind-boggling, we only need to think of the lost revenue from the public purse by corrupt persons who, by fraudulent means, evade duties and taxes at our ports.

But we must take a stand against corruption, not just because of its economic cost, but because it is apparent that the entire life of our society, our system of justice and governance, and the development of our nation — as this year's theme suggests — are at stake where corruption is left to its own devices. The ugly head of corruption has been clearly manifested this year in our national life and we ignore it to our peril.

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