Trevor Munroe | Stop ‘backsliding’: Strengthen democratic governance

The 49th conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM is taking place in Montego Bay between July 6 to 9. The conference comes at a time, when Jamaica’s Prime Minister, incidentally, one of my former students, Dr Andrew Holness, assumes the six-month tenure as chairman of CARICOM.

He takes over from Prime Minister Motley who served as chairman between January 1 and June 30. The conference also comes at a time when we in Jamaica and our brothers and sisters throughout the region are facing immense challenges to make ends meet and to hold our Heads of Government accountable in the exercise of the extraordinary power entrusted to them.

At the same time, our Heads are tasked with reducing differences amongst themselves and forging more meaningful unity in coping with the multifaceted crises of climate change, international economic inequity, weakening of multilateral institutions, unprecedented global uncertainty and growing threats to international peace, security and human rights. In this context, Chairman Holness and other Heads of Government need to redouble efforts to fulfil commitments made to our people and we the citizens must strengthen our efforts to hold our leaders to account.

One important commitment we need to recall was made at the 30th annual conference of CARICOM Heads of Government held in the very same Montego Bay in 2003. At this conference, under the chairmanship of then Prime Minister Patterson, the heads agreed to develop ‘a road map for future directions’ and ‘resolved that the Charter of Civil Society CARICOM 1997 be actively applied as an institution for strengthening democratic governance in the community’. It is more than timely that we the people, Chairman Holness and our Heads of Government review whether we have lived up this commitment to strengthen democratic governance and to the extent that we have not to stop any erosion of democratic accountability.

ROSE HALL DECLARATION

To be fair, our review must recognise that in the two decades since the ‘Rose Hall Declaration’ the world has been increasingly marked by ‘democratic recession’, ‘democratic backsliding’ and erosion of citizens rights.

• So far we in the Caribbean have prevented these developments, our CARICOM states retain high and stable scores and rank in the top tier globally in terms of both political rights and civil liberties.

• All score 80 or above on a scale of 0 to 100 where 100 is the highest level of democratic freedoms.

• In the relation to the Rule of Law Index published by the World Justice Report, 10 Caribbean states in score and rank in the top half of 128 countries.

In relation to corruption, the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score of CARICOM states generally remain comparatively good, despite the belief with good reason of the majority across various CARICOM states that corruption in government is a serious problem. Nevertheless, in the 2023 CPI Barbados, The Bahamas and St Vincent were ranked in the top 20 per cent of countries globally as being corruption free.

In Jamaica, between 2000 and 2020 significant measures were enacted and institutions established to check executive power, strengthen citizens rights, clean up electoral administration and enhance transparency and accountability in governance. Successive Prime Ministers – Patterson, Simpson Miller, Golding and Holness (in his first full term) – established the independent Offices of the Public Defender, (2000), the Office of the Political Ombudsman (2002), the state of the art Electoral Commission of Jamaica (2006), INDECOM (2010), passed the Corruption Prevention Act (2001) the new Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (2011), The Protective Disclosures Act (2011), regulations governing Political Finance and Campaign Funding (2017) as well as the Public Bodies and Management Accountability Act (2021), and the establishment of the Integrity Commission (2017).

None of these were perfect, each would benefit from further amendments, either promised or required to strengthen their effectiveness.

FAILED TO FULFIL COMMITMENTS

Regrettably, however in too many instances governments have failed to fulfil commitments made to strengthen accountability and transparency. The promise, in enacting legislation, to provide constitutional protection against the government takeover has not been kept in relation to the Office of the Public Defender, the Office of the Political Ombudsman, and the Electoral Commission of Jamaica. Commitments made 16 years ago in Jamaica’s national development plan to establish an effective code of conduct for parliamentarians with sanctions for breaches and the decolonisation of the judiciary remain unfulfilled.

Beyond Jamaica across the region, a 2019 study done by Transparency International on accountability mechanisms, gave justifiable failing grades in relation to financial disclosure, conflict of interest and most of all provisions for political finance regulation. This last, having an average regional score of 25 out of 100. Equally troubling the Basel Institute of Governances’ and Anti Money Laundering Index assessed 8 CARICOM states including Jamaica with an average score of over five on a scale of 0-10, with zero as no risk and 10 as the highest risk. In terms of the distribution of wealth, Jamaica and other CARICOM states ranked in the top one-third globally in terms of inequality.

Not surprisingly, across much of the region dissatisfaction with of democratic institutions is growing and voter turnout in many CARICOM states is declining. This erosion of confidence should compel Prime Minster Holness (and other Heads) to recall and take to heart his own observation at his inauguration in 2016: ‘significant numbers of Jamaicans have lost hope in our system …. Jamaican people want to see action in building trust.’ Again more significantly as he assume office on September 7, 2020 the Prime Minister bound himself and other elected ‘servants of the people’ to ‘seek to prevent the reoccurrence of actions which weaken public trust and damage the integrity of Government.’

On our side, to prevent ‘democratic backsliding’ we the people have to learn the lessons from our own recent experience: the more of us stand up for right against wrong, the more the ‘powers that be’ have to listen and to reverse gear. It is public outcry and standing up against wrong that caused:

• Government and hotel moguls – to reverse gear and grant hotel works the rights to representation and better conditions of work.

• Prime Minster Holness not to take the unconscionable 200 plus per cent increase in prime ministerial salary and the government to withdraw the unacceptable proposal to give Senators over 170 per cent increase in allowances in 2023.

• The Government to withdraw the proposal to increase the period of secrecy for Cabinet papers from 30-70 years.

• MP Fitz Jackson to sustain his advocacy and ultimately compel the Bank of Nova Scotia in 2023 to abandoned demanding cash payments to cash their own cheques.

• The Parliamentary Opposition to make successful submissions to the Constitutional court to declare ‘rolling’ states of emergencies and the original NIDS Act unconstitutional.

Now we must learn that is it’s more public outcry by ordinary citizens, by civil society organizations, the churches, the private sector, ‘honourable’ MPs and sustained advocacy that is going to prevent democratic backsliding in relation to:

• Non-disclosure of the full truth regarding the questionable appointment of Dennis Chung as Technical Director of the critical anti-corruption institution the FID;

• To reversing the neutering of the independent Office of the Political Ombudsman;

• To securing public access to Jamaica’s beaches;

• To successfully resisting attempts to dismantle the Integrity Commission and remove the offence of illicit enrichment.

• To ensuring that the commitment to institute the provision of Unexplained Wealth Orders is fulfilled.

Our Prime Minister and other Heads of Government, as well as we the citizens, must put a stop to further ‘democratic backsliding’, and ensure the renewal of the resolution at the 30th Heads of Government Conference in the Rose Hall Declaration to actively apply the CARICOM Civil Society Charter to ‘strengthen democratic governance in the community’.

Dr Trevor Munroe, is emeritus professor of Government at The University of the West Indies, Mona and founding director of National Integrity Action. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com