K.D. KnightNational Security and Justice Minister K.D. Knight says Jamaicans must begin to speak out against corruption in the society.
Each person has to make a personal commitment to reject corruption to eliminate the scourge, the minister said.
It's alarming, he added, that so many people were willing to accept corruption as long as "they are the beneficiaries and as long as they are able to get away with it".
Minister Knight was speaking at a public forum at the Port Antonio Comprehensive High School in Portland last week.
Corruption is present in all segments of the Jamaican society he told his audience. "There are corrupt poor people, corrupt rich people, corrupt in-between people.
"There are corrupt people who live in the hills, corrupt people who live in the valleys and corrupt people who live on the plains.
"Some persons see nothing wrong with bribing the customs officer, or the person at the motor vehicle depot.
"You sell drugs beside a school and you feel its OK because is hustle you a hustle.
"Then you want to bribe the police not to arrest you and (the alarming thing is) some policemen accept the bribe.
"You are a butcher and you want to go to a politician for a contract to build road," Minister Knight noted.
Turning to the issue of corruption as it relates to the drug trade, Mr. Knight said that one forfeited property had been sold and that another 21 were slated for forfeiture applications.
He said the Forfeiture of Proceeds Act was aimed at reigning in another form of corruption the drug trade by depriving drug traffickers of their ill-gotten gains.
Decrying the growth of the illicit drug trade in Portland, the minister urged Portlanders not to allow drug dons to take over their parish and to ruin its reputation as one of the most beautiful places in the country.
Portland has been identified as a major drop off point for illegal drugs.
He noted that marine policing would be beefed up in Portland and other parts of the island, with the acquisition of new boats for the marine police.
In the meantime, marine resources will be diverted from other areas to step up security in Portland, he said.
Commenting on reports of police involvement in the drug trade, the minister said he believed that the overwhelming majority of police officers were upstanding citizens.
However, law-abiding policemen need to arrest and charge their colleagues who are involved in the illicit drug trade.
"...they should arrest and charge them and not wait for any administrative action by the Commissioner of Police. They should go to prison," he said.
Portlanders came out to discuss issues in their communities ranging from improvement in police and justice infrastructure; drug trafficking; deportees; and other police operational matters.
