Dear Editor,

The damning revelations by some of our constituted oversight bodies on Government’s improprieties drive me to be brutally frank and ask the the question: Is our Government in some criminal conspiracy?

Since this Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government came to power in 2016 our two dailies have been plastered with a litany of headlines reporting on acts of corruption and and other impropriety. What concerns me most is the fact that all of those acts of corruption are happening during the first three years of this Administration, and not on the back end of it. It would appear that they came in with an immediate intent to be unlawful, corrupt, and to trample on governance processes.

Our Auditor General’s Department, Office Of the Contractor General, the Integrity Commission, the Public Accounts Committee have all unearthed frightening acts of impropriety by the Government. The Petrojam issues are all fresh in our memories.

If that were not enough our Constitutional Court found the Government’s National Identification and Registration Act (NIDS) to be flawed and unconstitutional as it impinges on the rights of ordinary citizens.

And, to top it all, the recent damning Office of the Contractor General’s report on the divestment of Urban Development Corporation lands. Interestingly the day the damning OCG’s report was to be tabled in our Parliament was the same day the prime minister chose to announce the declaration of a state of emergency in three western parishes. Was the government trying to change the narrative away from the OCG’s report?

We must bring into sharp focus the Government’s inability to raise the bar of governance in the country. All aspects of corruption and criminality across the country are a direct function of bad governance.

Unless the Government starts thriving for better governance SOEs cannot help us, as crime is a direct function of bad governance.

Fernandez Smith

Former JLP councillor

fgeesmith@yahoo.com