Robert Buddan

The Jamaica Labour Party has begun its election campaign and already the term 'silly season' is being bandied about. There is nothing silly about democracy and the language of cynicism does injustice to democracy's modus operandi of competitive elections. Election seasons are periods when citizens consider which party and its candidates should govern a country's affairs. This is a country's most serious time of decision, not a silly season.

If 'silly' is meant to refer to the theatrical aspects of politics, then the term need not be restricted to politics. Theatre is a part of the culture of practices as serious as religion and business. There are many religious campaigns, from the charismatic Sunday preacher to the artful televangelist, that smack of pure theatre. There are business campaigns to sell products that rely more on leggy girls and fantastic promises that are closer to fiction than fact.

If 'silly' refers to the excesses of politics, again politics is not the only silly business about excesses like violence and corruption are also found in religion and business, two areas that people might consider more serious and important than politics. Religion, business and politics have conspired to kill more than 670,000 Iraqis in the U.S.-Iraq war over the last three years; and in the case of hundreds of businessmen, companies and politicians implicated in the UN's Food for Oil Scandal in 2004.

Regulating democracy's excesses

Democracy is serious business and part of our challenge must be to curb its excesses (as it should be with religion and business). This is why it is important to regulate the political order. It is not good enough for Mr. Golding to say that campaign finance regulation is a red herring or that disciplining someone who violates banker-client confidentiality is mere scapegoating. Laws are needed to regulate financial contributions to parties. Laws that protect clients from bank breaches must be enforced.

Many democracies, including Jamaica, have gone a far way to regulate their political order to take some of the excesses out of politics. The political ombudsman promotes and enforces election codes of conduct. When an election candidate, for instance, says that communists in the PNP are causing violence, that sounds silly. If a candidate knows who is causing any kind of violence, he or she should report it to the police and if the accusation is incendiary propaganda then the ombudsman should intervene.

Both parties have done very well to cooperate on the Electoral Advisory Committee, a very successful example of a body established to help with regulating the political order. The Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) is our most successful citizens initiative in this regard. They continue to work on recommendations for campaign finance regulations. The Director of Elections, Granville Walker, said he did not want this work to get caught up in any bandwagon knee-jerk reaction to the Trafigura issue. He prefers that a sensible rather than a silly approach prevail.

Citizen's role in political regulation

Citizens too must get involved in ensuring that democracy retains its sanity and CAFFE and its volunteers have set as good an example as any. Jamaica Money Market Brokers has said it wants to know more about the Trafigura issue before it decides whether it will make campaign contributions to any party. The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce has said the Trafigura controversy exemplifies a culture of corruption in Jamaica. One would expect that the business sector would therefore make sure that its money is not spent on parties that are not fully committed to regulations that would help to clean up politics.

Business people should put their mouth where their money goes into the political system. They can start by mobilising their members to work as election observers on Election Day. Money might pay for elections, but it does not make elections free and fair. Those who put big money into politics should make themselfs available as election monitors and presiding officers.

If the private sector is serious about doing something to eradicate this "culture of corruption", it should come out of its own denial and admit to be a part of it. It should then accept the need for partial state funding so that parties are not so dependent on and beholden to big money, and companies do not have the same burden in spending big money in the market of politics.

Donor contracts with parties

Contributors, both companies and individuals, should not merely write cheques for parties expecting private or personal gain. They should enter into contracts with parties requiring that parties report their campaign spending within the limits the law requires; and the law should also require the website of the election commission to report (from the contractor general) any contract awarded to any contributor so that the public can enquire if these contracts are above board.

If we are going to be serious about regulating democracy and removing the cynicism that causes some people to regard elections as the silly season of politics, we have to agree on regulations that make sense. The Jamaica Labour Party and private companies do not want contributions to be disclosed. Some way must be found to make sure that companies do face exposure, not so much for merely contributing to a party's campaign, but when they benefit unfairly from donations made. Parties must be made to return money to the extent that they do not comply with rules for spending and reporting.

Donors must insist on, and parties must provide audited accounts of their spending. This will assure donors that their money is not being used to sponsor gunmen and curry goat politics. We have to find our own ways to do these things because other countries, with more advanced campaign laws than we have, are still not satisfied that they have solved the problem. Too many compromises are made along the way with special interests.

Jamaica's campaign finance laws should work with bank financial laws, party laws, representation of the people's laws, laws on multinationals, and impeachment laws. They should provide the necessary authority to the Constituted Authority (Election Court), the election commission, and the contractor general, to compel disclosure of the kind necessary to determine where corruption of elections, parties, and government takes place.

As the United States approaches mid-term elections in November, opinion polls say that the three biggest concerns of Americans are government corruption, the war in Iraq, and the war against terrorism. Though many regulations exist to govern the American political order, too many loopholes remain, many of which are concessions to powerful special interests, and too many contracts are awarded or too much spending approved that are not accountable. It is not enough for us in Jamaica to only moralise about corruption, and worse, to politicise it.

This is the pitfall that many countries fall into and why, according to some of these polls, fewer than half of Americans trust their government. We should not try to be like America, Britain, Canada, or Europe. Many of these democracies are in trouble. We can and should aim higher.

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government at the University of the West Indies. Email Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm