Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter

Bruce Golding, Opposition Leader and Col. Trevor MacMillan, Head of the Task Force on Crime present its report during a media briefing at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston last month. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

CITING continued concerns of corruption in Government, former Commissioner of Police, Colonel Trevor MacMillan, has called for politicians and their parties to declare the source of their funding.

"They must declare it," said MacMillan who recently chaired the Bruce Golding-commissioned task force on crime.

CLEARED BY POLICE

Colonel MacMillan was addressing members of the Liguanea Plains Rotary Club at Eden Gardens, Lady Musgrave Road, St. Andrew, on Thursday night.

"When you run an election, it costs four and five hundred million dollars ­ where do they get the money from?" he asked.

He was making reference to the recently-concluded task force report on crime which named corruption as one of the causes of crime.

One recommendation in the report was that people getting Government contracts, particularly sub-contractors, should be cleared by the police.

"One of the ways money gets into political parties is a thing called sub-contractors ... Security is one of the things sub-contracted out and a lot of this money is skimmed off back into the political party," he asserted.

"If we do not deal with the problem of corruption, particularly political party connection, then we may all join the queue at the U.S. embassy, the British High Commission, the Canadian High Com-mission or any where else we want to go, because it is not going to change."

NO POLITICAL WILL

According to MacMillian, all reports conducted over the past 20-25 years have one thing in common.

"There is no political will to implement and until we change that, until politicians realise that they are going to have to make some very unpopular decisions, very tough decisions, then corruption will never stop in Jamaica," he stressed.

Additionally, the colonel warned that dons could soon be elected to serve.

"More than likely, some of those dons will soon be elected to Parliament if we are not careful. It is not impossible that one of them will take over a political party, need I say more?" the former army man stressed.