IC report: a turning point for Jamaica?

Dr Maziki Thame believes it is unfortunate that partisanship appears to be clouding objective reality as Jamaicans react to the findings of an Integrity Commission (IC) investigative report following a monthslong illicit enrichment probe triggered by Prime Minister Andrew Holness' 2021 statutory declarations.

The findings were in a report tabled in the House of Representatives last Tuesday.

The probe was inconclusive, with the IC reporting that it did not have all the information it needed to make a determination.

The commission said it still could not certify his 2021 statutory declaration and asked that the Financial Investigations Division and Tax Administration Division conduct probes into the issues raised.

Among the issues were concerns relating to tax compliance, conflicts of interest and public board appointments, and financial matters pertaining to three companies linked to Holness.

But Thame, a political scientist at The University of the West Indies, Mona, said some Jamaicans are closing their eyes to the key issues.

“Our leaders are often thought of by their followers as a kind of hero in the like of 'we will follow Bustamante till we die',” she told The Sunday Gleaner in reference to the country's first post-Independence prime minister and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) founder Sir Alexander Bustamante.

A champion for the working class, Bustamante consistently lamented the plight of poor Jamaicans, especially the working condition of labourers, endearing him to many, who, in turn, gave him their full devotion.

“We are seeing that response among the supporters of Holness,” Thame noted. “This is occurring in a context of a more zealous partisanship than we have seen in recent times, but without the ideological grounding of the period leading up to the 1980s. That factor pushes supporters of either camp to jump in defence of their side regardless of what the issue is. In other words, there is no such thing as objective reality or the common good, just what advances our understandings of our own interests.”

'QUITE DAMNING' FINDINGS

Describing the IC report as “quite damning”, Thame said that while she believes most well-thinking Jamaicans will see it with the gravity it deserves, there are those who can only look at it through a partisan lens. The Holness-led JLP, she added, may be betting on that reading of the population. The party and all government members of parliament declared their firm support for Holness last week as the Opposition called for his resignation.

While the IC did not determine illicit enrichment and Holness has rejected aspects of the report, declaring that all his dealings are above board, the political scientist noted that public perception of corruption among public officials remains high.

“We are faced with the question of whether this will matter in [the upcoming general] election. On the one hand, it is accepted as normal and that both sides are the same. This is buttressed by the fact that we are in a 'mek a money or die trying' moment in Jamaica that puts to the back burner ethical questions about how one achieves riches,” she explained.

The latest Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International gave Jamaica a score of 44 in a context where zero is considered highly corrupt and 100 is very clean. The country ranked 69th out of 180 countries.

While it was Jamaica's best-ever score, Transparency International said that collusion among the powerful as well as the overwhelming dominance of the executive over the legislature has weakened Parliament's oversight capacities, creating conditions ripe for abuse and corruption.

Further, Transparency International said the “executive's failure to close gaps in the governance framework weakens the pursuit of corruption cases involving organised crime and fosters impunity of high-level corrupt elites”.

Ahead of the last general election in 2020, the island's top two pollsters then – Don Anderson and Bill Johnson – noted that corruption has not featured as a big-ticket item in general elections and was unlikely to be the factor tipping the scales in one party or another's favour. Like Thame, they said Jamaicans have generally accepted corruption as a way of life.

“There may be a point at which the Jamaican public decides that [the] perception of corruption matters to them. If that moment is now, it will be added to the already declining popularity of the PM (prime minister) and his party,” Thame said last week.

“Mark Golding has offered himself as the 'clean hands, clean heart' leader who has consistently called for the release of the names of the 'illicit six' – now eight – with confidence that none is in his party. That is to say, he has put the issue of corruption on the ballot. The IC report may be the nail in the coffin that leads to a [JLP] defeat at the polls,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

The issue may be larger than an election, she noted, given Holness' response to the report.

“He has effectively said the IC needs to be controlled. It means we are in a decision moment about whether we want more accountable governance and more measures to contain corruption or whether we just want our side to win,” Thame stated.

National Integrity Action (NIA) said the prime minister should apply to himself the tests that triggered the removal of some members of his administration, such as Andrew Wheatley, Ruel Reid and J.C. Hutchinson, under questionable circumstances, including allegations of abuse of power, conflict of interest or corruption.

NIA Executive Director Danielle Archer said that based on the report, the IC's claim that Holness refused to divulge his personal expenses when asked does not look good.

“They applied a reference analysis test, the net worth analysis test, a source analysis test, and after applying all of that, one of the things that they needed to confirm whether or not there was illicit enrichment was the personal expenses of the prime minister,” Archer noted.

“The cure, from NIA's position, is simply this. You must now have an unexplained wealth order included in the Proceeds of Crime Act. That way, an entity like the IC could go to the courts [to] get an order that forces any parliamentarian, including the prime minister, to provide the explanation required,” she suggested.

“We are in for some interesting times, that is because if you look at the NIA report, we had done a presentation based on an audit of Don Anderson's assessment some time ago which showed that more than 90 per cent of Jamaicans thought that corruption was a way of life. The question is: Is it too much?” Archer added.

The NIA report showed an 82 per cent increased awareness of corruption in 2023 than in 2019, as well as a growing agreement that parliamentarians should disclose their assets.

NEED FOR CODE OF CONDUCT

“A code of conduct for all parliamentarians, including the prime minister, is needed. The minister of legal and constitutional affairs had indicated that a draft was ready and we think it is most important now that this code is in place. What it would have done is given guidelines to the circumstances that a minister or prime minister would know that they must tender a resignation,” she suggested.

When lawmakers in the nation's Parliament debated the Integrity Commission Act in 2017 one of the provisions they gave the nod to was Section 6 (1)(g) which gives the anti-corruption body the mandate “to prepare codes of conduct and other advisory material relating to corruption”.

In November 2022, the IC had invited both Holness and Golding, as the leaders of Government and the Opposition, to sign a leadership code of conduct it crafted with seven principles of good governance – a near mirror image of the Nolan Principle of Public Life. Among other principles, the code commits each leader to honesty, accountability, and openness in fulfilling their public duties.

The Integrity Commission argued that while there was no legal requirement placed on any official to commit to the code of conduct, their formal subscription to the stated principles “will obviously be a clear demonstration to the people of Jamaica of the standards of integrity, governance and accountability that they are prepared to submit themselves to as holders of the highest public offices in Jamaica.

“Likewise, and conversely, a failure to formally commit to the code would also signal to Jamaicans, the type of leadership that they should not expect from the country's highest public office holders,” the commission stated.

Golding later invited all opposition parliamentarians to also sign the code, which they all did. He also indicated earlier this year that he would also like all spokespersons for the party, including those who are not parliamentarians, to sign the code.

On the other hand, no member of the Holness administration has signed the code. The IC had previously indicated that it had received no response several months after sending the code to the Office of the Prime Minister.

But IC Executive Director Greg Christie said: “The Integrity Commission's Leadership Code of Conduct document stands, irrespective of who signs and when they sign.”

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com