The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) is pointing the finger at Jamaica's Cabinet and Parliament for Jamaica's consistent decline in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index over the last three years.

"It is the OCG's considered view that enough is not being done by the State and, in particular, the Cabinet and the Parliament of Jamaica to aggressively, proactively and decisively combat corruption within its borders."

The OCG was responding to Transparency International's 2009 report released on Monday which shows Jamaica ranked 99th of the 180 countries down from 96 last year.

According to the OCG, the issue of corruption was singled out in its 2008 annual report to Parliament which was tabled in September 2009.

In that report, Contractor General Greg Christie argued that the great majority of the recommendations made by the OCG over the last two and a half years have, for the most part, "gathered dust".

Same failures

"Some of the referenced OCG recommendations have been repeated ad infinitum and ad nauseam, but to no avail. In investigation after investigation, while the fact, circumstances and/or allegations may change, the same types of failures and/or breakdowns in compliance levels, probity, accountability and transparency in government contracting are too often evident," Christie added.

According to Christie, in his special report into the Mabey and Johnson corruption allegations, he made three recommendations for urgent and decisive action.

Christie's proposals

1. "The OCG believes that the time has come for the Parliament of Jamaica to urgently examine its current anti-corruption institutional and legislative framework with a view to (a) insulating the State's anti-corruption institutions from any possible interference, obstruction or direction from the Executive arm of the State and, (b) significantly strengthening the capacity of the institutional framework in a deliberate effort to substantially enhance its effectiveness in the fight against the scourge of corruption.

2. The OCG also recommends that Parliament should review its anti-corruption legislation to ensure, inter alia, that the existing sanctions are adequate, effective, proportionate and dissuasive in nature. Where necessary, the implementation of new and more severe sanctions, which should include the seizure or confiscation of bribes and the proceeds of acts of corruption, in addition to other powerful punitive criminal sanctions, must be given strong consideration.

3. Additionally, the OCG would respectfully recommend that the Corruption Prevention Commi-ssion should take a more proactive and aggressive approach in (a) the investigation of matters involving alleged acts of corruption against the State and (b) its review and investigation of the Declaration of Assets, Income and Liability Statements that are required to be filed each year by public servants pursuant to the provisions of the 2000 Corruption Prevention Act.