THE UCCI Caribbean Conference 2014 “Towards a Corruption-free Caribbean; Ethics, Values, Trust and Morality”, held between March 19 and 21, constituted a significant success and marked an important milestone in the Caribbean’s engagement with anti-corruption issues on a broad basis.

Throughout the Conference, participants and attendees expressed fulsome praise and sincere appreciation for the UCCI Board of Governors, President, Conference Co-Chair and committee members as well as to the sponsors and Government of the Cayman Islands for their contribution to this exceptional event.

In scale and quality the Conference was unprecedented in the region. It brought together 120 participants from 15 countries in the Caribbean, as well as from North America, Europe and Africa. The Conference was multi-sectoral. Leaders of government, organisations, tertiary institutions, churches and media houses came together for the deliberations.

The Conference was also multi-disciplinary. It drew on expertise and experience of political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, accountants, and very importantly present and past officials of anti-corruption commissions and institutions.

Opened by Her Excellency, the Governor Helen Kilpatrick, the Conference conducted its work in no less than 16 plenary sessions. The formal opening received with great appreciation a compensation keynote address from Dr Huguette Labelle, Chair of the Board of Transparency International, the world’s leading anti-corruption non-governmental organisation with chapters in over 100 countries.

Subsequent plenaries benefited from outstanding and thoughtful presentations including that from Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance for the Federal Republic of Nigeria and former Managing Director at the World Bank; Honourable Perry Christie, Prime Minister of the Bahamas; Andrew Holness, MP, Leader of the Opposition in Jamaica and former Prime Minister of Jamaica, among others.

In addition, much discussion took place in four pre-conference workshops, nine round tables and 12 panels, attended notably by students of UCCI as well as the public

who interacted appreciatively, with

invited presenters.

The subjects covered in plenaries, panels, round tables and workshops, were extraordinarily wide-ranging, comprehensive and special relevance to the current challenges, facing the Caribbean and the wider, global community in more effectively combating corruption and building integrity. Amongst the subjects were those related to Ethics: The role of Tertiary Institutions in Safeguarding Ethical Standards, Teaching Civic Values to the present generation, the Role of the Church in Preserving and Enhancing Ethics and, significantly, Ethics relating to different sectors, namely, medicine, law, sexual relations, the environment, and sports.

Role of Technology – this especially in relation to curbing corruption and engaging the citizenry in that process.

The Sphere of Culture- particularly the Culture of Leadership, the Culture of Compliance with Codes and Conduct, particularly in the public service, the Culture of the Media and, very interestingly, the Culture of Dancehall.

The Dimension of Institutions — particularly the strength and weaknesses of National Integrity Systems in the Caribbean, of anti-corruption Frameworks, of different models of anti-Ccrruption institutions – whether single or multiple or no specific anti-corruption agencies.

The Role of the Bureaucracy, particularly, the implications of levels of efficiency and the robustness of financial services.

Not to be left out was the critical importance of:

The Private Sector and Civil Society Organisations in combating corruption and building integrity.

During the course of the conference there was much lively debate, penetrating questions and insightful answers — out of this emerged a number of areas of growing consensus. Amongst these were the following:

(1) The effects of corruption are truly multiple and interconnected negatively impacting the political, economic, social and environmental sectors of societies. From the political side, it impedes democracy and the rule of law; public institutions lose legitimacy and populace becomes cynical and so reduces their levels of participation. It can also lead to political instability. Corruption in public administration subverts formal processes resulting in the efficient provision of services.

From the economic perspective, it depletes national wealth, increases costs of goods and services and leads to unhealthy competition. It can cripple economic growth and development by reducing the level of direct investment and by causing significant distortions and inefficiencies.

From the social perspective, it leads to more inequality in society, causes political tribalism and war, weakens civil society and increases poverty by marginalising the poor. When citizens know of corruption, it affects their psychological health as they become angry and frustrated.

(2) A critical step in limiting corruption and promoting ethics is to have strong and committed leadership at the top setting an example. Leaders who will create a culture of transparency and integrity within institutions with zero tolerance to corruption. They ensure that people throughout their institutions do what is right. They act by setting codes of ethics for all to follow, setting up policies, training systems, incentives and disincentives.

(3) A vital element in promoting ethics and preventing corruption is to ensure a culture of transparency in the areas where it matters most: at the heart of government, in the institutions that defend the public, offer security, serve the public and manage.

(4) Education is key in building strong ethical individuals in our society. A huge potential in combating corruption through education lies in incorporating ethics in the education system from the youngest classrooms to the PhD level.

Teaching ethics throughout the educating system will sow the seeds for better societies. With nearly one-fifth of the world’s population between 15 and 24 years old, young people have the potential to stop corruption both as citizens of today and as the leaders of tomorrow.

(5) We should not overlook how interdependent ethics in one society is upon global society. The opportunity to get away with corruption in one country can undermine efforts to prevent corruption in another.

Every country has a responsibility to put in place effective anti-money laundering measures: anonymous firms and secret bank accounts should not be used to launder the proceeds of corruption. It’s a question of integrity, investor interest and of reputation for all countries.

(6) There must be a recognition, however, that values and morality, trust and ethics in government needs more than legislation. It cannot be confined to commissions set up by government to measure the probity and integrity of politicians and public officials, or laws or codes of ethics, but the attainment of these values requires the integrated effort of the entire society and its constituent elements and institutions – legislative, executive, political, judicial, religious, civil – all engineering with each other to ensure transparency and accountability and good governance.

That Caribbean citizens be encouraged to remind themselves that personal example is still the most powerful and credible influence upon others and the most persuasive of teachers.

(7) Insofar as institutions are concerned:

(a) Every Caribbean country should consider, as a matter of priority, the appropriateness of the establishment of a single independent anti-corruption State agency, with specialist resources, and having exclusive criminal investigation and prosecutorial jurisdiction, and full police powers of arrest and detention, over all corruption offences.

(b) Every Caribbean country should develop, design and institute, as a matter of urgency, legislation and regulations to register political parties to regulate party funding and campaign financing.

(c) Each Caribbean country should establish an independent procurement regulator to monitor and to investigate the award of government contracts, sub-contracts and licences, with the objective of ensuring probity, transparency, competition and value for money in the said awards. It is imperative that the regulator be given the power to halt proposed awards in instances of suspected irregularity or impropriety. Equally imperative, is the need to apply strong penalties for breaches of procurement guidelines.

(d) Give consideration to the public filing and disclosure of assets, income and liabilities for all parliamentarians and critical level of public officials.

(e) Impose tough criminal and civil sanctions upon private sector entities for the bribery of public officials and require them to develop, implement and enforce company-wide anti-bribery compliance programmes.

(f) That consideration be given to significant improvement to the remuneration of media workers especially journalists across the region, as a way of increasing the likelihood of ‘bolder’ journalism. At the same time, that consideration be given to re-examination of libel laws across the region with the objective of encouraging more media freedom and less tame journalism.

(g) The development of non-partisan and strategically planned grassroots community organising is crucial in order to continuously remind elected officials that they in fact answer to the greater electorate and not political factions.

The mantra of the UCCI Caribbean Conference 2014 was Connect, Share, Inspire. The Conference did connect with the broadest cross-section of Caymanian society, which its many sessions and tuned into the many radio discussions in which invited attendees participated; it shared in the rich diversity of experience and expertise of the speakers in plenary, panels, round tables and workshops and it inspired many to convert words into deeds, talk into actions in more effectively combating corruption and building integrity. In the motivational words of the Hon Minister of Finance from Nigeria, “I don’t (know) if we will ever have a corruption-free world either in Nigeria or the Caribbean, but I can tell you that a combination of real-life tools, coupled with endearing and supportive value systems, can make a huge difference. Where there is political will, brave men and women willing to fight, a drive to build institutions and apply them properly, corruption can be fought”.

At the end of the proceedings, all participants left motivated and energised with the refrain of the outstanding UCCI choir which performed in the uplifting cultural interlude “it’s been a long time coming, but change will come, oh yes it will”.

(Professor Trevor Munroe is executive director of the National Integrity Action, and Visiting Honorary Professor of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute, University of the West Indies).