Dennie Quill, Contributor
GIVEN THE depth to which public confidence in Government has fallen, it seems significant that by July of this year all government ministries would have appointed ethics officers. This follows the knuckle-rapping anti-corruption session held by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson with public officials in May.
In this age of unrelenting public scrutiny which has seen the greater involvement of civil society, citizens are understanding more and more that for the proper running of a democracy, it is essential that public officials be honest, impartial and accountable. In the realm of perceptions, as evidenced by opinion polls, many Jamaicans feel their country is incurably corrupt.
There is deep distrust of politicians, government officials including traffic examiners, the police, private sector, customs and the judiciary.
ARREST CORRUPTION
Public trust can only be restored if the government demonstrates its resolve to improve the legal framework and establish mechanisms to arrest corruption. The effectiveness of these measures will be calculated by the results they produce.
But back to this latest announcement. A news release from the Office of the Prime Minister said the ethics officers will be "overseeing the ethical conduct of the staff in respective ministries and agencies".
On the face of it, it appears that the mandate of these ethics czars is fairly narrow, focusing on procurement. Corruption of public procurement is one of the biggest rackets in government. However, I submit that if the aim is to restore public confidence in the integrity of government then such ethics officers must be able to consider areas such as conflict of interest, trading in influence, accepting bribes, the taking of gifts, official misconduct and misuse of government property.
State employees owe a duty to the people of Jamaica in the performance of their official duties. So are these ethics czars going to have powers to recommend legal penalties and/or sanctions for persons who fail to comply with the set standards?
What level of training will be given to these officers? What powers of surveillance will these ethics czars have? Will they be able to conduct investigations and initiate criminal proceedings? How independent will these ethics officers be? What resources will be given to these czars? Will they have a budget? What will be the relationship between these ethics czars and the Permanent Secretaries who are the real bosses of the ministries? Which ethics officer would be so bold to cross his Permanent Secretary boss, I wonder?
What about public bodies like the Jamaica Bureau of Standards, the Fair Trading Commission, National Solid Waste Authority, the Office of Utilities Regulations? Are they also to have ethics czars?
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
So many unanswered questions. It's another case of an official announcement minus the requisite details. The public needs better particulars about the mandate of these officers. I believe once they are appointed their names should be published and they should be given hotlines so that they can easily be reached by members of the public who may have complaints or tips.
I imagine that if the Jamaica Mortgage Bank had an ethics officer, members of the public may have had a better understanding of what went on in that organisation to warrant the recent resignation of the chairman and the firing of the managing director. The media have not helped us in getting to the bottom of the issues. Yes, we are told it had something to do with motor vehicles and houses, but did their conduct constitute criminal behaviour? Surely the public has a right to know what breaches if any were committed by these individuals.
PUNISH CORRUPT OFFICIALS
Rarely are corrupt officials punished in Jamaica. It has always been the practice to allow the plunderers of the nation's resources to make discreet departures from their desks. This needs to change.
The fight against corruption cannot be a half-hearted thrust. The seriousness of this latest announcement of establishing ethics czars will be tested by how much autonomy these officers are allowed to enjoy.
Dennie Quill is a veteran journalist who may be reached at denniequill@hotmail.com.
