Dear Editor,

The bold headlines about corruption carried recently in this newspaper are stark reminders to our politicians and other stakeholders that corruption statistics matter.

The article was written on a report by Transparency International titled Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) on Latin America and the Caribbean but I am yet to hear any further discussions by the Government  on the way forward to correct the damning statistics carried in the report. I was hoping to hear Prime Minister Andrew Holness speak forthrightly on corruption at his party’s conference, but possibly he was too taken up with the euphoria of crowd size, hype, and energy of his green-clad, bell-ringing supporters to address this issue.

The report hangs some damning concerns of the citizens on our prime minister, parliamentarians, the police force, civil servants, municipal officers, and whole Government.

Transparency International is a credible voice on corruption statistics and should not be taken lightly. When 50 per cent of the population says that corruption is getting worse and a massive 34 per cent says our prime minister is corrupt, this is cause for grave concern, especially against the background that corruption eats out 10 per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP).

The report adds that 78 per cent of the population says corruption is a problem in Jamaica, and the police force is the most corrupt institution. Equally damning are statistics that show that 44 per cent of the citizens say that Members of Parliaments are corrupt. When corruption touches the very foundation of our democracy — our elections — it is of major concern, as the report shows that 12 per cent of the electorate were offered  bribes in exchange for votes.

In retrospect, during the last general election campaign, Holness told the Jamaican people that, if elected, he has a first 100-day road map to, among other things, move with alacrity to install legislation for parliamentary impeachment to hold parliamentarians accountable, the Caribbean Court of Justice, and a fixed election date to bring certainty to the political process. If those promises Holness made so boldly were fulfilled it would have made a severe dent on the country’s corruption. It is as if Holness has conveniently forgotten the promises he made as during his speech at the conference, very little, if any at all, was said about such legislation.

The paradox of the broken promises Holness made was that the very promises he made were used as basically the theme of the conference when he instructed his Labourites to go home and be ready, because he will summon them when he is ready to ring the election bell.

Holness no longer has a problem with the uncertainty of election dates or impeachment or corrupt public officials. But then again, a horse is never a zebra.

Fernandez “Bingy” Smith

Former Jamaica Labour Party councillor

fgeesmith@yahoo.com