Munroe

The following is an excerpt from the executive summary of the National Integrity Systems Transparency International Country Study Report (2003) authored by Professor Trevor Munroe and research assistant Suzette Haughton and is being published ahead of this week's Press Freedom and Corruption Prevention Seminar set for December 6.

Petty corruption, political corruption and narcotics-related corruption in Jamaica are prevalent, undermine the quality of the country's long-established democracy and retard its prospects for economic development. Corruption in its various forms derives, in the main, from public tolerance towards 'beating the system', strong political traditions of patron clientilism, a 'winner-take-all' concentration of power in the executive and Jamaica's strategic location on a main cocaine trafficking route to North America.

In combating corruption, Jamaica possesses an integrity system with many strong pillars. The media and civil society are two such increasingly formidable forces. Institutions like the judiciary, the Auditor General, the Contractor General, the National Contracts Commission, the Services Commission and the Director of Public Prosecutions' office enjoy significant formal and some real independence. However, the main and critical deficiency in the system is the ineffectualness of checks and balances on the overwhelming dominance of executive-prime ministerial power. This undermines the effective autonomy of all other institutions in the anti-corruption struggle, weakens the national integrity system, infects the citizenry with cynicism and disinclines the public from full engagement in the war against corruption.

Against the background of this central conclusion, the main recommendations of the report have to do with:

First, the need to hasten and deepen constitutional and political reform around consensus measures to strengthen the independence of Parliament, the service commissions, the rights of the people etc; in relation to the executive.

Second, the urgency of enforcement of anti-corruption law against offenders from high society - in the public and private sectors - as one means of reaffirming equality before the law, undermining popular conviction that the highly corrupt are untouchable and thereby helping to stimulate now dormant public involvement in the anti-corruption process.

Third, the implementation of a comprehensive programme of public education and cultural change management on the issue of corruption.

Fourth, a programme of building institutional capacity in a number of critical pillars of the national integrity system, such as the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, the Office of the DPP, the Resident Magistrate's Courts, the Anti-Narcotics Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Fifth, the need to coordinate, harmonise and focus donor support on strengthening democratic governance in building capacity in the above-mentioned key areas as well as in raising the level of effectiveness of the media, of civil society and of policy-relevant research.

Corruption Profile

The Commission for the Prevention of Corruption in Jamaica became operational in April 2003 and, therefore, there are as yet no comprehensive statistics on corruption. Available information and evidence suggest that there are three types of corruption which exist to moderate levels in Jamaica:

Petty corruption

Narcotics-related corruption

Political corruption.

Petty corruption, understood as the use of position for illicit benefit on a small scale, is perceived to be widespread among minor functionaries interacting with ordinary citizens. Traffic police, customs officers, civil servants in the offices of the Registrar General (for example, issues relating to birth and death certificates), the Registrar of Titles (for example, dealing with real estate and property titles), the departments responsible for issuance of various licences (for example, motor vehicle, driver's etc.) are most prone to petty corruption which exists on a broad scale. By and large, though based largely on anecdotal evidence, we can say that the public is tolerant of this type of corruption, even though it may not be accepted as fully legitimate.

NARCOTICS-RELATEDCORRUPTION

"Jamaica is a major transit point for South American cocaine en route to the United States and also the largest Caribbean producer and exporter of cannabis." The country is ranked in the top 20 in terms of global seizures of cocaine. Government sources estimate that up to 100 metric tons of cocaine are trans-shipped through Jamaica. The London street value of this quantity of cocaine is approximately US$5 billion. The authorities seized an average of 2.75 tonnes per annum in the five years, 1998-2002, valued at US$137.5 million.

Establishing, developing and protecting trans-shipment of this volume and value of illicit narcotics involves corrupting a network of intermediaries, fishermen, port-workers, custom officials, airline crew, police officers, security guards, prison warders, inner-city gangs, community leaders etc. Though hard evidence is difficult to come by, there are credible allegations that local and constituency-level leaders of the major political parties receive drug money. In 2001, a whole section of the police force was transferred from an entire parish because of corrupt relations with narcotics traffickers. Some amount of money laundering through real estate and used-car companies occurs but Jamaica is not regarded as a major money-laundering state. The frequency and intensity of violent turf wars and reprisal killings among major drug gangs are testimony to the extent of narcotics-related corruption in Jamaica.

POLITICAL CORRUPTION

Corruption related to partisan politics is widespread. It takes the form of patron-client relations, whereby party functionaries at all levels reward their supporters with a disproportionate share of scarce benefits while, at the same time, penalising their opponents by disproportionate deprivation. This is the main means of maintaining loyalty among party activists a diminishing proportion of the electorate in a highly competitive two-party system.

This corruption infects public procurement whereby contracts are awarded, often not on merit, but as a reward for party support and in return for financial contributions. Partisanship has also contaminated the disposal of public assets, appointments to public office and offers of employment, particular in construction and on infrastructure projects.

Elements in the private sector and politicians are involved in influence buying and influence selling, respectively. In terms of the country's electoral system, the corrupt manipulation of election processes has been significantly reduced in recent years. A professional electoral administration has all but eliminated the manipulation of electoral lists, constituency boundaries and electoral officials. However, electoral corruption (for example, vote buying) does continue and voter intimidation is the norm in one-party dominant (or garrison) constituencies.