CORRUPTION, like crime, robs the national economy of five per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) annually. What this fact means is that the Government has a duty to treat both issues with utmost urgency. But it appears that neither is getting the kind of attention needed, with strong optics suggesting that there is attention to crime, but very little attention to corruption.

The recent declaration of a state of public emergency in three western parishes is mainly a response to one form of crime — murder. But crime comes in many forms, and often walks hand in hand with corruption. Apart from murder and robbery perpetrated by blue-collar criminals, the Government has all but turned a blind eye to corruption.

The outright rape of the public purse by those involved in crime and corruption is made worse by public officials who use their office to exercise the kind of influence which results in further losses, as found by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) in the long-awaited report on the sale of government properties by the Urban Development Corporation. The report, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, April 30, 2019, specifically names Minister Daryl Vaz as exercising influence over the sale. The minimum cumulative value of the property was approximately US$11.8 million, with a range up to US$13.5 million, and although a price of US$9.2 million was being negotiated, the final price was US$7.2 million, or about 61 per cent of the price at the lower.

The OCG concludes that the country was deprived of revenue, but Minister Vaz has rejected the assertions of the OCG, citing the fact that the OCG has made no referral. Thus, Vaz contends that the OCG should “either put up or shut up”.

But the Government cannot deny the spectre of corruption facing the country, and what is exceedingly instructive is the vigilance which various international stakeholders have shown in the level of corruption in the country, even as Andrew Holness’s political popularity and perceived job performance soar.

In an April 24, 2019 report carried in the Jamaica Observer, the IMF is reported to have once again expressed grave concern about the problem of corruption in Jamaica. According to the story, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is calling on the Government to “deal with corruption”. In its call, the IMF urged the Government to strengthen the Integrity Commission, and clarified, according to an April 26, 2019 Gleaner report, that by “strengthening” it means “staffing and funding have to be provided so that it can do its job”.

The fact that staffing and adequate funding have not been provided to the Integrity Commission over a year since it was set up, and the functions of the former Office of the Contractor General subsumed into it, tells us a lot about Government’s priorities.

This is not the first such IMF call. On March 8, 2019 IMF Mission Chief to Jamaica Dr Uma Ramakrishnan bemoaned the problem of corruption, highlighting the auditor general’s report on Petrojam as an indication of the scale of public corruption facing Jamaica.

And the IMF is not the only international entity concerned about the state of corruption in Jamaica. A story in the Jamaica Observer on April 2, 2019 discusses the 2018 US State Department report which highlights the continued dissatisfaction of the USA, Jamaica’s major trading partner, with island’s record in dealing with corruption and financial crimes.

The report states: “…the Jamaican Government should make a concerted effort to identify money laundering-related activities, and prosecute political and public corruption, and ensure that designated non-financial businesses and professions’ financial institutions are fully compliant with the law…”

The report continues: “Inefficient legal practice methods combined with corruption and a lack of accountability exacerbate an already overburdened justice system.”

I was a guest on Iriejam Radio 93.5FM on Sunday, March 24, 2019. The station serves the tri-state area which is home of many yardies. The concern of the hosts was corruption in Jamaica. It says a lot about the Jamaican psyche that our international partners and members of the diaspora are so concerned about “entrenched corruption” and we seem so indifferent. The hosts shared that the one strong perception of Jamaicans in the diaspora is that the Government does not care about corruption, and inquired whether it is the case that the Government is not eager to deal with it based on the entities and individuals connected thereto.

With a second resignation from the Cabinet in the space of nine months, the prime minister is yet to tell the country what information “circulating in the public domain” led him to request the resignation of former minister Ruel Reid. Thus, despite a seemingly swift resignation, the prime minister’s posture seems anything but dalliance and decoy on the issue of corruption.

Meanwhile, investigations by the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC) into Petrojam continue to unearth new and troubling facts which require urgent responses from the prime minister, but he appears to have turned a deaf ear to these revelations.

The totality of the sprawling corruption plus the prime minister’s silence highlights the need for tough anti-corruption protocols and laws. It boggles the mind that in the face of these developments Holness would be more popular.

Based on the calls for the Government to take urgent steps to deal with corruption, I propose the following action:

(1) A corruption summit attended by all societal stakeholders aimed at agreeing to immediate and medium-term actions to address the problem of corruption. This should not be a talk shop for long papers, but brief, action-specific, legislative and policy steps to stem the haemorrhage;

(2) Increasing staff of the Auditor General’s Department so it can conduct multiple audits at the same time;

(3) Immediately providing funding to staff the Integrity Commission;

(4) Amending Integrity Commission Act to include prison penalties for corrupt activity which results in public funds being illicitly used, as well as making provision for restitution;

(5) Establishing and immediately staffing a Corruption Prosecution Unit in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and establishing a Corruption Division in the Supreme Court.

(6) Barrring an elected official found guilty of corruption from running for public office for at least five years.

(7) Legislating that the PAAC and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) be chaired by the Opposition party and strengthening the committees to enable them to conduct more background investigations, as well as giving them the powers of subpoena. In addition, it should become a criminal offence for any person to either refuse to appear before the PAAC and the PAC or to lie to either body.

(8) Digitisation of government records and creating greater interface among government databases so that law enforcement and relevant State agencies can conduct surveillance of the movement of liquid and hard assets.

Dr Canute Thompson is head of the Caribbean Centre for Educational Planning, lecturer in the School of Education, and co-founder and chief consultant for the Caribbean Leadership Re-Imagination Initiative, at The University of the West Indies, Mona. He is also author of four books and several articles on leadership. Send comments to the Observer or canutethompson1@gmail.com.