FOUNDING director of the corruption watchdog group National Integrity Action (NIA) Professor Trevor Munroe is urging the Church and all Jamaicans to hold leadership accountable to good governance and transparency.

According to Munroe, all leaders must be made to uphold accountability, strengthen transparency, ensure consultative decision-making and develop and observe codes of good conduct.

He noted that all other organisations have job descriptions and codes of conduct, but Members of Parliament (MPs) still do not have any.

In a presentation to the Jamaica Baptist Union’s 174th General Assembly recently, Munroe underscored the critical importance of integrity in navigating the complex intersections of politics and the economy in Jamaica.

Drawing from examples where public outcry had led to tangible outcomes, Munroe called for a sense of hope and agency among attendees at the seminar, emphasising the potential for transformative impact when voices unite in pursuit of integrity.

“When the public’s voice is strong enough, when we cry out and stand up for what is right, the Government and the powerful often are forced to retreat,” said Munroe.

He highlighted three significant instances where the Jamaica Council of Churches (JCC) confronted the Government.

Munroe said in the first instance the JCC insisted on upholding the principle of good governance by protesting the prime minister’s interim appointment of Justice Bryan Sykes as chief justice, “thus safeguarding the separation of powers between the executive and the judiciary”.

He said in the second instance the Church group advocated for meaningful public education alongside constitutional reforms as their was a need to move beyond mere gestures of public consultation.

Munroe pointed to the third instance when the JCC “protested the unjust salary increases” granted to the political directorate and argued that this underscored the Church group’s commitment to transparency and fairness.

Against the backdrop of the assembly’s theme ‘Keeping faith with the Word in an ever-changing world: Pursuing Integrity’, Munroe engaged attendees in a discussion that drew from both personal anecdotes and historical references.

He emphasised the formative role of early upbringing and socialisation by institutions such as the Church and family in fostering a culture of integrity.

Citing global surveys and reports — including Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer and Oxfam’s Commitment to Reduce Inequality Study — Munroe charged that there is a systemic shortcoming that plagues the nation, particularly in terms of transparency, accountability, and justice.

He argued that through collective action and advocacy, Jamaicans need to push for positive change and righting at least three existing wrongs.

According to Munroe the first push should be to insist that the laws be enforced to ensure accountability in the spending of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money both at the national and local government levels.

He pointed to several public bodies, including all the regional health authorities (RHAs), which have not complied with the Public Bodies Management Accountability Act that requires them to submit annual reports on what they have done within four months of the end of each parliamentary year.

Munroe pointed out that of the 164 plus public bodies, only 24 had complied with the regulations.

“Imagine that many regional health authorities, the northeast, the southeast and the western RHAs last submitted annual reports in 2010/11. Similarly, the Forestry Department and the National Land Agency have not filed their annual reports relating to the last 12 years.

“Hence, we the public are in the dark in relation to what these bodies have been doing in providing services particularly relating to roads, water supply and other infrastructure,” said Munro.

“We need to demand that the law be enforced, not only against the mango and ackee thief, but also against the high-ranking white-collar officials,” added Munroe.

He further urged the Church to lobby the Government to strengthen existing good legislation to ensure transparency and accountability.