Cutting crime and corruption

The dismantling of the Shower Posse worked, but it was dependent on the US's extradition request and it cost at least 74 lives and billions of dollars. We cannot afford another extradition fiasco.

The US extradition request for Dudus demonstrated the link between organised crime and politics, and showed the intermingling of the Jamaica Labour Party and the Government it constituted to delay the extradition of Dudus. In the end, Dudus pleaded guilty to racketeering and conspiracy charges, and he is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

Many Jamaicans are expecting the US to solve our crime situation and break the nexus between politics and organised crime by issuing more extradition requests. However, as a sovereign nation, even as we cooperate with our partners, we need to tackle criminality that is within our capacity. We need to devise strategies which will not cost so many deaths and so much money.

Corruption feeding tree

Therefore, let us clean up public contracts. Public contracts are worth billions of dollars and are the feeding tree for corruption and crime. It is known that Christopher Coke's companies benefited from public contracts. What is not known is how many others are benefiting in like manner.

Cutting off these contracts will severely dent the operations of these gangs. It would also affect extortion rings. A Christian contractor told me he pays fewer dollars to civilian extortionists than to police who engage in extortion. Therefore, this strategy has the potential to deal also with corruption in the police force.

The magnitude of corruption, and the money involved, are demonstrated by what is happening in the US$400m Jamaica Development Infrastructure Programme (JDIP). It is said that the contractor, China Harbour's, profit margin was increased from 20 per cent to 25 per cent, and there is no indication that it had Cabinet approval. So by one stroke of the pen somebody is getting billions of dollars more. And why did a non-competitive bidder get a 20 per cent profit margin in the first instance?

Questionable record

Many persons had raised questions about JDIP, but were apparently powerless to do anything to fix the initiative. Bruce Golding, then prime minister, had jitters about the programme, and said, "But when I look at the performance of the Works Agency, there is too great a distance between their estimates, their contract sum, and the amount that is actually spent ... ." (Gleaner, June 12)

He ordered the hiring of an independent firm to approve every payment to be made under JDIP. In spite of that, JDIP did not change course. In other words, if the Office of the Prime Minister could not get the desired change, we know it should not be left to the politicians.

It seems that the answer is to allow for stiffer sanctions for flouting government procedures and allowing the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) to have prosecutorial powers. The OCG has done an excellent job with compliance of 100 per cent from public bodies because of the threat of court action. It is highly possible that giving the OCG prosecutorial powers could cut corruption and also the feeding tree for criminality.

Let's hope that the manifestos of both the JLP and the People's National Party will propose stiffer penalties for breaching government procurement guidelines and giving prosecutorial powers to the OCG.

Devon Dick is pastor of the Boulevard Baptist Church in St Andrew. Send comments to columns@gleanerjm.com.