Leonardo Blair, Enterprise Reporter
BASED ON the horrors experienced by public sector employees in attempting to report corruption, president of the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), Wayne Jones, says Government will have to offer protection to ethics officers and their families.
Government announced this week that it would begin to train a cadre of public officials designated ethics officers to sensitise and warn colleagues about the dangers of committing unethical and corrupt acts. Nearly 90 ethics officers have been appointed to date.
BELL THE CAT
"People have attempted to bell the cat and their children are confronted in the car park at school and messages are sent through them to their parents," related Mr. Jones yesterday.
"The Prime Minister says the Corruption Prevention Act empowers (public sector employees) to report corruption, but I don't know where in there the protection exists to give the people the assurance. We are concerned that people are being asked to fight without protection," he said.
The JCSA head said the public sector was pregnant with stories of corruption, but people were afraid to report unethical behaviour.
While Government embarks on its drive to train more ethics officers to advise on and report corrupt activities in the public sector, Jones reiterated his position that a whistle-blower law would be a bolder step on the State's part to protect informants.
Said Jones: "People know that if they finger their colleagues or associates in the public sector, it's not going to be business as usual for them. We operate in a violent society, one filled with vindictiveness and reprisals. In a situation like that you are hardly going to find people who are willing to risk their families," explained Jones.
He also pointed out, "We need to take steps to deal with the man offering the bribe to the public official. It can't be a one-sided affair."
Taking swipes at the housing development process, Mr. Jones suggested that steps be taken to make it harder for public officials to accept bribes. He explained that there were so many different agencies involved in approving housing developments, it was easier for developers to just pay a bribe than to go through the sometimes costly bureaucracy and posturing.
"We have to do things to make it easier to do business in this country. You have to make people know it is cheaper to go the straight and narrow," the JCSA president advised.
