Lead Stories

Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Reporter

FROM THE furniture scandal in December 1990 to the light-bulb scandal in November 2008, allegations of corruption stalked the People's National Party (PNP) during its record stay in office.

Neither the brilliant chandeliers acquired by politicians which triggered the furniture scandal, nor the hundreds of light bulbs from Cuba, would have any radiating effect on the PNP.

The party has already admitted that it took a battering from the corruption allegations during its 18 years in government, and there is no question that it served up a full menu of so-called scandals.

The names of many prominent PNP stalwarts were mentioned in the questionable activities labelled scandals by a suspicious public.

Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson and PNP officer Vin Lawrence were prominent in the Shell waiver and Sandals Whitehouse scandals, respectively.

Other encounters with scandals

Other PNP ministers had their encounters with alleged scandals. Karl Blythe, as water and housing minister, faced his questions in the Operation PRIDE scandal; Information Minister Colin Campbell featured in the Trafigura affair; Junior Energy Minister Kern Spencer in the Cuban light bulb; Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell in Netserv and, well, some others.

Then there was the 'Fat Cat' scandal in which some public servants were allegedly in receipt of compensation packages that were significantly above what then Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Opposition claimed was due to them.

In all of this, only Spencer has been ushered before the court on a range of criminal charges.

Still, many of these so-called scandals remain unresolved allegations which continue to haunt the PNP.

Now in opposition, the PNP appears to be rushing to banish anything or anyone reeking of, or even carrying, a mild stench of corruption.

The establishment of an integrity commission within the PNP has been welcomed with open arms, or so it seems.

A name that has kept clean and clear of the muck throughout the years is Burchell Whiteman - the highly respected politician-turned-diplomat-turned-elder statesman.

Whiteman is now a member of the PNP's Integrity Commission and its mouthpiece.

He is of the view that the nation has been thrust in a new direction by recent events and the PNP is soaring along.

Whiteman rejects critics who say the PNP's initiative is too little or too late.

"Instead, it shows a new resolve on the part of the party. There have always been codes of conduct to which persons were expected to subscribe," he declared.

Other commissioners

The other commissioners are chairman Bishop Wellesley Blair, actuary Daisy Coke, retired Permanent Secretary Cedric McCulloch, and attorney-at-law, former senator, Fred Hammaty.

"All commissioners are distinguished Jamaicans who are acknowledged to be of high repute," PNP President Portia Simpson Miller declared as she announced the new body.

She described the Integrity Commission as an element of the PNP's proactive processes to transform the party she leads.

Last week, Blair claimed that members of the commission were insistent that the body would not exist in name alone.

"All the members agree that there is a great deal of work to be done," asserted Blair.

"We are fully committed to not only making the relevant proposals, but seeing to it that they are implemented within the party structures," he added.

New intensity

Whiteman, a former government minister who served as Jamaica's high commissioner to Britain, spoke of a new intensity and renewed resolve prevailing in the current political climate.

He appeared upbeat about the objectives and mandate of the Integrity Commission, which he thinks are workable.

"I am optimistic; I have got a sense that a new climate is in the country," he asserted. "The PNP has been concerned about doing what it can to protect the integrity of the party."

But he conceded that the commission is likely to encounter logistical difficulties as it seeks to probe all breaches suspected to have been committed by its members in public affairs.

"But there is a determination that the commission ushers the party into a position to ensure that all members are clean and in the clear," Whiteman said.

Current PNP General Secretary, Peter Bunting, has embraced the establishment of the commission and jumps at every opportunity to justify its position.

So does Bunting's predecessor, Donald Buchanan.

"The PNP has always pioneered the political process in terms of national development and political integrity. This is another step in the right direction," declared Buchanan.

Public perception

But even as the PNP rushes to tidy up its affairs, the ruling Jamaica Labour Party continues to struggle with public perception that it is more corrupt than its political rival.

A recent Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll found that 36 per cent of Jamaicans believed that the current JLP administration was more corrupt than the previous PNP government.

The poll, conducted on April 24, 25 and May 1, found that 23 per cent believed the previous PNP government was plagued by more corruption.

That so many Jamaicans believe both political parties are corrupt is cause for concern for Douglas Orane, one of the country's leading businessmen and a former independent senator.

Orane, who sat in the Upper House in the 1990s, is of the view that a timetable must be established for an internal system of integrity testing for persons who offer themselves for political office.

"The current situation in Jamaica presents a unique opportunity for each party to choose people who have no connection to organised crime, to lead each party forward with a clean slate of leadership for the future," Orane asserted last week.

"I think that is what all law-abiding Jamaicans truly want, and we must continue to push for a clear timetable on this approach."

gary.spaulding@gleanerjm.com