Robert Buddan, Contributor
IN MARCH 2002, Prime Minister Patterson used the occasion of his 10th anniversary as Prime Minister to say he will not tolerate corrupt practices by members of his Cabinet. He warned his 17-man Cabinet to keep its hands clean or face being fired.
Mr. Patterson also said that the worse thing (the most shameful thing) one could call a PNP member is a thief. I take this to mean that since the PNP was formed as a party of nation-building and corruption it is widely agreed undermines development corruption is the very antithesis of what the PNP was founded for. Corruption, in this sense, is about more than a moral lapse by individuals in the party; it is as Transparency International (TI) says, the "enemy of progress".
THE PNP ON CORRUPTION
In the year 2000, the PNP affirmed its commitment to building a new kind of society when it unfolded its vision of a new paradigm of politics. Its 21st Century Mission speaks of creating a "society that is fair, one that embraces the highest possible ethical values."
The party speaks of creating a "moral state". The document was emphatic that such a state "can never imply any promise to underwrite personal fortunes, to inculcate dependency or to excuse corruption and waste." It went further to commit itself to "strengthen the powers of the Internal Affairs Commission to undertake its own investigations of any reports, rumours or suggestions of impropriety on the part of its members." It promised sanctions that would ensure compliance with the party's principles, objectives and constitution. The party's new paradigm, it says, "imposes upon us a responsibility to ensure the observance of the highest standards of integrity and probity among all our cadres at all levels of the party."
I know of no other party, movement or association in Jamaica that has declared in writing and made public such commitments to a moral order. Some have even heralded Mr. Patterson as a new kind of leader a moral leader. Byron Buckley did so in 1994. Geof Brown welcomed Mr. Patterson's moral call for a positive shift in values and attitudes. Mr. Patterson's thesis seems to be that if we do not assume positive values and attitudes then our attempts at social and economic development will fail. This is precisely the argument of those who promote the development of social capital. Unless we trust each other (in the domains of Government, market and civil society) we will not work well together and our efforts at development will suffer.
THE GOVERNMENT AND CORRUPTION
Similarly, there has been no other Government that has done more to address corruption than Mr. Patterson's Government. It has addressed all the main theses about corruption. Transparency International (Jamaica Chapter) believed that changes in the Freedom of Information Act, the Declaration of Assets by Public Officials, and codes of conduct for organisations were necessary. All of these have been undertaken. In addition, when Trevor McMillan was head of TI he said that Government should establish, "a commission on corruption and appoint independent people who have the strength of integrity and financial independence." Since then, of course, there has been a Prevention of Corruption Act and an amendment to that Act brought the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption into being. TI was a part of the process of making this legislation.
The legislation brought Jamaica in line with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. This Commission exists along with other anti-corruption agencies the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Revenue Protection Division, the Auditor General's Department, the Integrity Commission and the Contracts Commission. And, at the launch of the Commission, Mr. Patterson promised tangible support so that the Commission could carry out its work.
Mr. Patterson called on the people as the ultimate guardians of honest Government. He noted that the Commission should be seen as a direct invitation to all Jamaicans who were aware of any act of corruption to speak up, stand up and help the nation to stamp out corruption.
When Sameer Younis was president of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association he said that Government bureaucracy perpetuated the problem of corruption. He was particularly concerned about customs. The Government had brought in Mike Surridge to head the Revenue Protection Division. I think we can say that Mr. Surridge has been an incorruptible institution himself.
Sameer Younis was really talking about the bureaucracy in general. To him, bureaucracy forced people to be corrupt. But again, no other Government has done more for public sector modernisation along lines of good governance. There have always been people of high integrity in our public sector who are unfortunately maligned by the stereotype of the corrupt bureaucracy. Even so, the public sector now has to declare assets under the corruption prevention legislation.
Transparency International says that corruption can be prevented by making Government open and transparent. Well, no other Government has made the Jamaican state more open. The Freedom of Information Act is one example. Trevor McMillan had rightly complained that the old information laws allowed agencies to legally hide or deny information. This provided cover for corruption. Now that won't be possible anymore. Furthermore, the Government has opened up all of the committees of Parliament to the public, something that did not exist under any other Government.
In fact, for anybody paying attention, the reforms of the public sector address corruption directly. Reforms include, leadership by example, improved salaries, recruitment on merit, adopting transparent procurement procedures, strengthened audits, increased parliamentary oversight standards, co-operation with the media to mobilise public opinion against corruption and protection of those who report corrupt practices.
In fact, both Surridge and McMillan said that we won't be successful against corruption until we can mobilise public opinion against it. This is why the co-operation between the public sector and the media is so important.
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL
Ironically, there is a higher level of perception about corruption than ever before. This is why Transparency International has downgraded Jamaica on its measure of corruption. This must be for certain reasons. Surely, TI has failed to take into account the many anti-corruption changes referred to above.
TI's methodology only requires that it asks the private sector what their perception of corruption in the public sector is. But this is like listening to criminals complain about the state of crime. In 1998, Trevor McMillan, then head of TI (Jamaica) said that corruption is found in almost every Government agency but, in the private sector, it's possibly worse; the financial sector proves this. The distribution of land, getting a promotion almost any area you can think of. And worse, since that time there have been reforms in the public sector unmatched by any in the still largely corrupt private sector.
What then are we to make of TI? TI is an organisation that believes that public sector corruption undermines the market and market capitalism is the best vehicle for development. It is anti-state/anti-public sector. It is against any state that plays an active role in development. Its agenda is a neo-liberal one. It does not consider that a private sector can be so corrupt that it is incapable of leading development. It should accept that it is not enough to consider public sector corruption alone. In Russia there is little difference between the Russian private sector and the Russian Mafia.
DOING SOMETHING ABOUT CORRUPTION
Mike Surridge is closer to the answer when he said that corruption happens because Jamaicans accept it as a way of life. Since the PNP has gone on record as being in favour of a moral state and society it must search out and eliminate corrupt persons from its ranks at any level. It must shock its members into honesty and send a message to the wider society that its mission of transformation begins with stamping out corruption in order to get on with nation building.
The new phase of the values and attitudes programme was started in February 2003. Interestingly, the programme falls under the portfolio of the Minister of Information, Burchell Whiteman, who is the new General Secretary of the PNP. Mr. Whiteman is in the best position to see to it that responsible values and attitudes are instilled in PNP members through the Party's educational programme.
A certain newspaper had called on the PNP leader to first cleanse his party as a sign of commitment to stamp out corruption. This symbolised the usual "pass the buck" mentality but it had a point. The PNP cannot lead the national movement if it is not a credible organisation in the eyes of the nation. At its 65th Annual Conference, the Party affirmed that it would lead by example by demonstrating integrity in building a society that, among other things, embraces the highest possible ethical values. It must do so now.
Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona. E-mail: robert.buddan@uwimona.edu.jm.
