Civil society advocate and executive director of Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal (JAMP) Jeanette Calder says “parliamentary dysfunction” is a major reason Jamaica has been flagged by anti-corruption coalition Transparency International as having a “serious corruption problem” for 23 unbroken years.

“Why aren’t we moving? From JAMP’s perspective, so much begins with the Parliament, the laws that are in the land, the financial, regulatory, the whole framework,” Calder said on Tuesday.

“Our findings last year showed that in excess of 10 years, a fundamental to combating corruption, which is getting reports on how our monies are spent, are not coming. You have a chief auditor of the Government, many people who talk about the auditor general don’t know that she is a part of the Government, it’s the Government’s auditor and the people’s auditor. She is there year after year saying what JAMP was trying to say to deaf ears,” Calder said.

Calder, in also blaming citizens for what she said was “the neglect on the part of our parliamentarians”, pointed out, “we are the employers, we are the owners of the assets, and we are the financiers of everything government is doing, so how can’t we be part and parcel of that problem? They are our employees, it is our money and our assets”.

“I am raising that as just once incident of the level of neglect but it is a dysfunctional Parliament that we are looking at, if that could have been allowed to happen and we the people don’t turn around and demand better from not just a party but a Parliament,” she stated.

The JAMP executive director was speaking during the launch of the Transparency International report by watchdog group National Integrity Action (NIA) at the law faculty of The University of the West Indies, Mona.

Attorney-at-law and public commentator Danielle Archer, principal director of NIA, said, “citizens have to take responsibility for where we are”.

“It is time for us as citizens to realise that those who benefit will not put the laws in place to reduce the benefit,” she said, adding “who will bell the cat?”

According to the latest report of the global movement released on Tuesday, Jamaica’s position on its Corruption Perception Index (CPI) Country Rankings has fallen four places for 2024, which means the country is now ranked 73 out of 180 countries, compared to 69 out of 180 countries in 2023.

Transparency International said Jamaica’s 2023 CPI score of 44 out of 100 — where zero means ‘Highly Corrupt’ and 100 ‘Very Clean’ — remained unchanged for 2024. It continues to stand as Jamaica’s best score ever, having been previously attained in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

Prior to attaining its 44/100 CPI score for the first time in 2017, Jamaica had never scored higher than 41 — its CPI score in 2015. Jamaica’s lowest CPI score ever was 30, recorded in 2009.

On Tuesday, the Integrity Commission said, “a CPI score of below 50 means that a country has a serious corruption problem”.

“Jamaica has been firmly planted in this category for 23 years. A poor CPI signals prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption, and public institutions that do not respond to citizens’ needs,” the commission said.

It also argued that the fact that Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana are the only countries on the nine-country list with consistently poor sub-50 CPI scores over the years “indicates that they all have a serious corruption problem and, relative to the other six English-speaking Caribbean countries, a very serious corruption problem”.

The commission said Jamaica’s ranking places it squarely in the category of a “flawed democracy”, given Transparency International’s declaration that its CPI “highlights the stark contrast between nations with strong, independent institutions and free, fair elections, and those with repressive authoritarian regimes” and that “full democracies have a CPI average of 73, while flawed democracies average 47, and non-democratic regimes just 33”.

Meanwhile, of the nine English-speaking Caribbean countries ranked by Transparency International in 2024, Barbados, The Bahamas, and St Vincent came out on top, with Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana at the bottom — the same order as they were in 2023, 2022, and 2021. The country rankings for all nine were improved in 2024, except for Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana, which logged declines.

According to Transparency International, Barbados now has the distinction of being ranked the least corrupt of the nine English-speaking Caribbean countries for five consecutive years — 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

The 2024 CPI Country Rankings flag Denmark, Finland and Singapore as the top three, boasting CPI scores of 90/100, 88/100, and 84/100, respectively. Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland were tied with a CPI of 81/100, whereas Australia, Iceland, and Ireland, which shared 10th place, were tied with a CPI of 77/100.

At the other end of the scale, in the 2024 rankings, are South Sudan, Somalia, Venezuela, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Nicaragua, Sudan, North Korea, Myanmar, and Haiti. South Sudan, Somalia and Venezuela, the worst performers, had CPI scores of 8/100, 9/100, 10/100, respectively. Yemen, Libya, Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea were tied with a CPI score of 13/100, while sharing the 173rd country ranking spot.

Transparency International said that the 2024 global CPI average of 43/100 for the 180 countries in its rankings has “stood still for years”, with over two-thirds of the 180 countries scoring below 50.

According to François Valérian, the coalition’s chair, the dangerous trends revealed in this year’s CPI highlight the need for countries to urgently follow through with concrete action to address global corruption.

“Corruption is an evolving global threat that does far more than undermine development. It is a key cause of declining democracy, instability, and human rights violations,” he said while urging, “the international community and every nation must make tackling corruption a top and long-term priority. This is crucial to pushing back against authoritarianism and securing a peaceful, free, and sustainable world”.

As for the Americas, which recorded a 2024 CPI average of 42/100, Transparency International said the region must take urgent action to control corruption.

“The absence of effective measures promotes human rights violations, and increases the influence of economic and political elites and organised crime in public affairs. This environment fosters impunity,” it said.

Since its inception in 1995, the CPI, Transparency International’s flagship research product, has become the leading global indicator of public sector corruption. The index offers an annual snapshot of the relative degree of corruption by ranking countries and territories from all over the globe. Transparency International’s 2024 CPI draws upon 13 independent sources to measure public sector corruption in 180 countries and territories.