‘Who will bell the cat?’
NIA urges public to push legislators to prioritise establishment of anti-bribery laws, unexplained wealth orders
Published:Monday | December 23, 2024 | 12:06 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
Principal Director of the National Integrity Action (NIA) Danielle Archer is arguing that without increased public pressure and awareness about the importance of having anti-bribery laws and unexplained wealth orders (UWOs) in Jamaica, these legislative measures will never be a priority for the political class.
“Politicians on both sides of the aisle may fear that supporting this kind of legislation could lead to increased scrutiny of their own actions and those of their friends, families and allies,” Archer told The Gleaner.
“Who will bell the cat, which party is courageous enough to implement legislation that would limit the flow of financial contributions and other resources that parties relied on for their campaigns and activities,” Archer questioned.
She also questioned which of the political parties consider the people of Jamaica more than their quest for power and control and would support comprehensive legislation to plug the gaps that provide loopholes for nepotism, cronyism and conflicts of interest.
Archer reasoned that the implementation of a comprehensive anti-bribery legislation would positively impact Jamaica’s ranking on the corruption perception index (CPI), in the same way the promulgation of the Integrity Commission Act did after its passage.
Poor CPI score
Last year, Jamaica failed to improve on Transparency International’s CPI, stagnating with a score of 44 and a ranking of 69 out of 180 countries.
A CPI score of below 50 means a country has a serious corruption problem in a context where zero is considered highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
A poor CPI score signals prevalent bribery, lack of punishment for corruption and public institutions that do not respond to citizens’ needs.
The Crime Consensus Monitoring and Oversight Committee (CMOC) and other stakeholders had identified the Bribery Act as a high priority item for legislative action before the general election of 2020. The CMOC has also been actively advocating for the implementation of UWOs.
In late September, this year, the Holness administration signalled that it would no longer treat as a priority UWOs, citing constitutional concerns and existing laws that it said are “strong enough” to address individuals with suspicious sources of wealth.
A UWO is a court directive that allows law enforcement to confiscate assets from individuals who cannot demonstrate their wealth was obtained legally.
Speaking on Radio Jamaica’s current affairs programme, Beyond the Headlines in late September, National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang said, “We haven’t chosen to abandon [UWOs], but we don’t think it’s one that we need to pursue aggressively at this point when we have several things on the agenda.”
For more than two years, Chang had made clear that UWOs were a key tool in the anti-money laundering fight.
Executive Director of Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) Mickel Jackson said her organisation and other non-governmental organisations have been advocating for laws that comprehensively address issues of conflict of interest.
“For example, the type of business a MP (member of parliament) may be in must be considered when that MP is being given a ministerial portfolio,” she said.
Regarding disquiet in some quarters about the constitutionality of UWOs, Jackson said while these concerns may be valid the issue should be extensively ventilated.
“The challenge is that there has been nothing tabled for us to have a conversation around it so it sounds like a convenient hurdle rather than one we can collectively have a discussion around on how to balance individual constitutional rights with public interest,” she noted.
At the same time, Jackson is also raising concern about the snail’s pace at which parliamentary committees are reviewing the Integrity Commission Act and the Protected Disclosure Act.
A joint select committee has been combing through the Integrity Commission Act since 2022.
She said the JFJ and others presented before the committee and yet the country was unaware as to the status of these critical pieces of legislation.
“The snail’s pace at which the government is moving, and a seeming backtrack on promises made may undermine public trust in the Parliament, strengthening the perception that politicians are corrupt and not serious about tackling corruption,” Jackson added.