By Garwin Davis, Assistant News Editor 
Phillips
ACTING PRIME Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr. Peter Phillips, said charges of corruption levelled against the Government are mostly unfounded and smacks of political opportunism.
In an interview with the Sunday Gleaner from the offices of the Ministry of National Security in Kingston last Thursday, Dr. Phillips said most of what has been defined as corruption had little by way of evidence and are often exaggerated for the purpose of scoring political points.
"I don't know that there is a stigma of corruption that is attached to the Government," he said. "I know that there are those who for political reasons have tried to create things... to weave this miasma of accusations. For instance, there were people who came out boldly, saying they had evidence of Swiss Bank accounts and they were going to declare them. What has happened since I haven't heard anything more about it. The person who made the accusation and for this the press must take some responsibility was never asked where was the evidence."
Opposition spokesperson on Finance Audley Shaw said last year he had evidence that money from the failed Intec Fund project known as NetServ was fraudulently diverted to a Swiss Bank account. The Government at the time was embroiled in the NetServ controversy where over $200 million was handed over to a foreign investor without proper due diligence, resulting in the collapse of the company.
And in a clear swipe at Opposition Leader, Edward Seaga, the National Security Minister said: "People had said that they would not accept the position of Prime Minister if their financial affairs were not cleared up...yet they have gone on to accept other constitutional positions. We don't hear anybody asking anything about that."
Mr. Seaga, whose financial woes have been the subject of much discussion, said prior to last year's General Election that, in the event of a victory for his party at the polls, he would not accept the post of Prime Minister if his financial problems were not cleared up. Both Mr. Shaw and Mr. Seaga could not be reached for comment.
Mr. Seaga noted last week that that under the stewardship of Prime Minister P.J. Patterson, Jamaica has experienced "record levels of crime, corruption and injustice implicating the machinery of the state and the role of Ministers appointed by him to administrate the public affairs of the country. "In my position as Leader of the Opposition, I would be failing in my duty to the country if I did not charge the Prime Minister with condoning political corruption on the grandest scale ever in the history of this country," he said.
Dr. Phillips, however, disagreed, noting that Mr. Seaga was being disingenuous. "I believe the administration led by P.J. Patterson has done more in terms of legislative amendments...has done more in terms of institution building. Let's look at some of them: There have been amendments to the Integrity Act, there has been the establishment of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the Freedom of Information which is a very important guarantee. The Prime Minister has done more than anybody I know to facilitate growing transparency in Government."
He continued: "This is not to say that no corruption exists. All I am saying is that the Prime Minister has made a real and genuine contribution against the substance of corruption."
Asked about an often quoted statement which he supposedly made that "In Jamaica, the man who plays by the rule is the man who gets shafted," Dr. Phillips, while admitting to saying it, argued that he had been taken out of context.
"I was making reference to some people in my constituency who had done everything possible under the law to prevent the commercialisation of their community," he said. "It was in reference to that where I made the point that the state needs to do more to protect those persons. The truth is that if those people had resorted, to illegal mechanisms by getting persons to go and threaten and mash up places they might have gotten a different result."
Dr. Phillips added: "It's a fact...its an unfortunate fact of life that too often the man who plays by the rule often gets shafted...the little pensioner who lives by the rules. If we are not able to redress that balance we are going to find a bandoolo culture over-running us."
Dr. Phillips said the political culture of the society needed to be revamped, noting that politics had become too personal and barbaric. "Quite frankly, I don't think our political institutions have served us well," he said. "The way we conduct our politics... the language... has been so confrontational... so abusive...so almost violent in its tone and practice. What we have succeeded in doing is to legitimise this kind of behaviour for the general population. What we have done is to tell people that this is okay. People will go on political platforms and make some of the wildest accusations and think this is fair...this is politics. We must remember that the political parties are a microcosm of the society. This is why so many good people are turned off by politics.
