THE MEDIA has had occasions to criticise and to protest against clauses of the draft Anti-Corruption Bill as they negatively affected freedom of the press. Last week, at a workshop on 'Ethics in Government Procurement', a couple of legal consultants pointed out several 'unusual' clauses in the legislation.
The clause regarding illicit enrichment of a public official which shifts the burden of proof of innocence away from the prosecutor and on to the public servant as defendant is one such. According to the legal consultants, Harvey and Leslie Wilcox, the United States does not have such a law, 'because of presumption of innocence', a hallowed principle of the common law.
While Jamaica has drafted its legislation to satisfy the OAS convention against corruption, Canada a signatory to the convention, has also rejected this clause on the grounds that it was in conflict with their constitutional provision under which every citizen is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The Jamaican Government and Public Service has a comparatively poor image locally and internationally for corruption. Efforts to plug loopholes by legal provisions can be lauded in principle. The rights of citizens, public servants and institutions like the media cannot, however, be compromised by the new legal provisions.
As much effort should be put into curtailing the incentives and opportunities for corruption as for punishing it. As Contractor-General Derrick McKoy pointed out at the workshop, "We have a long history in this country of imposing draconian rules on the public service". Mechanisms for monitoring and administrative support are required for more effective performance of the system.
Greater transparency and public access to information would help. But we cannot help noticing that the speed and energy evident in moving controversial rights-threatening legislation like the Offensive Weapons Act and the Anti-Corruption Act are strangely absent from the Freedom of Information Act (FIA). The FIA would provide the government, serious about fighting corruption constitutionally, with powerful allies in public and media.
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner.
