Robert BuddanTHE PSOJ-LED business shutdown last week was a 'business against crime' initiative. Its 13-point recommendation says what government, political parties, police force, families, communities, and the business sector must do. The highlight was that politicians should declare themselves against garrisons and criminals. But I am also pleased that the PSOJ has asked its members to pledge that they will not submit to extortion and that they would reject all efforts to contribute to that criminal enterprise which was thought to be worth J$5 billion up to last year.
PLEASED
I am even more pleased that the PSOJ has, I believe for the first time, called for ''all private sector companies to pay their taxes, to pay them timely as these resources are needed to fight crime and support education." In fact, if the private sector pays its taxes, we could proceed on most of the other items in the 13-point plan. We could strengthen the judicial system, accelerate the inner-city social intervention programme, provide the police with more resources, and strengthen the administration of the JCF.
In 2004, the Minister of Finance said that for all the talk about government's indebtedness, society (the private sector especially) owed J$15 billion to government, mostly in taxes. The JLP had said that as much as 60 per cent of this was probably uncollectible because of weaknesses in the revenue collection system. But the greater problem is the weakness in our culture of compliance, another way of saying, our culture of corruption. It becomes all the more reason for the PSOJ to publicly call upon its members to pay their taxes.
In fact, the PSOJ needed to go further. Just as it wants political parties to expel members with proven criminal contacts, which I support, it needs to create sanctions against its members who are in violation of their tax obligations as well. It must go beyond encouraging tax payments to requiring it under the concept of good corporate citizenship. And, it therefore needs to accept this responsibility as a priority among the 13-point programme rather than listing it at the
bottom.
ENGINE OF GROWTH
The private sector is the engine of growth and, without its taxes and good corporate citizenship we won't get much of what we want. Members of the sector must set an example to families and communities by paying taxes, complying with the rules of fair trading, being accountable and respectful to workers, acting responsibly as corporate members of the communities in which they operate, and desist from collaborating with illegal activities and criminal people. They too must be called upon to disassociate themselves from criminals, from bribing public officials, and from helping politicians to buy political campaigns.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
The PSOJ's 'business against crime' initiative would have been much more useful had it kept businesses open as usual but dedicate the profits of that day (profit lost by the shutdown) to a salary fund for the police to help make up what the government is offering. I have no idea what a day's profit would amount to but it would obviously be substantial. It would have sent a good signal to the police that the society sympathises with its working conditions and appreciates its frontline fight against crime.
This financial contribution would have been a tangible, socially responsible, and productive way to mobilise people, and businesses against crime. It certainly would have given the private sector the moral ground it needs in its stand against crime and allow its members to confirm their reputation as good corporate citizens.
The private sector is often thought of as a for-profit-only sector. Here was an opportunity to build a reputation as a for-society sector. A day's profit turned over to crime fighters and crime-fighting could also have gone towards start-up plans to adopt police stations and adopt communities; strengthen the judicial system; contribute to the inner-city social intervention programme; and provide the police with more and better crime-fighting resources, all of which are in the 13-point plan. At the end of the day, consumers and business people would have had hundreds of millions of dollars to show for the stand against crime. The media too, which did business as usual, could have
been included as I'm sure its more conscientious leaders would have wanted.
Instead we have a 13-point programme and nothing to fund it with. Money, as we all know, is critical. The business sector, of all sectors should have had a plan for helping to finance the crime-fighting efforts. It had one at its fingertips. All it had to do was what it does best - do business - but devote the profits of the day to crime-fighting. It is not too late. The PSOJ should use another day to do this.
Business against Crime
Countries like Jamaica and South Africa have some of the highest murder rates in the world. When countries have poorly trained and badly paid police, ineffective courts and outdated legislation, and a general weakness in law and order, and when organised crime has links with political parties, businesses, security and judicial authorities, law
enforcement is ineffective. This is a general problem for many countries from Africa, to Latin America, the Middle East, parts of Asia, and Italy and (Southern) Europe. Crime deprives the governments of countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina of billions of dollars of euros in revenues. Customs fraud and tax evasion alone amounted to
twice the country's national budget in 2001. With help from the EU, schemes for tax fraud worth billions of dollars were exposed, corrupt managers were fired, and state revenues have tripled since.
The private sector needs to come up with more constructive methods to deal with crime in Jamaica. First, it must pay its taxes. South Africa has toughened its laws against business crime. However, it also formed a 'Business against Crime' partnership at the initiative of President Nelson Mandela in 1996. The result was that the conviction rate for serious fraud and white collar crime increased by 1200 per cent between 1997 and 2000. A banker received 1,620 years for fraud in the first privately funded public prosecution. Street crime in Cape Town was reduced by 80 per cent through the use of surveillance cameras.
Other countries have similar partnerships of business against crime. There are some 125 business against crime associations in the UK. They exist in various forms in Canada, Wales, Scotland, Australia, the US and many developing countries. .
In Sicily, 70 per cent of businessmen admit to paying protection money. Jamaica could end up in a Sicilian situation with economic garrisons where only certain brands are allowed in shops in certain areas as a trade-off for
protection money. The failure to deal with protection rackets can undermine the very market economy. Faced with this fact, businessmen in Europe asked their colleagues to accept a simple command, 'no one may demand or accept a bribe'. This alone would outlaw kickbacks, unreported political contributions, inflated payments, and all forms of bribery.
The PSOJ's business against crime initiative is only an important start. The private sector must develop concrete initiatives and there are many models elsewhere from which it can work.
Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona. You can send your comments to robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or infocus@gleanerjm.com
