Open letter to PM regarding corruption in society

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I am Matthew Loney, a 17-year-old student at St George’s College. I write to express my concerns as a citizen of Jamaica on the issue of corruption in our society.

Corruption is the root of the branches of the six evils that threaten to bring down a nation. These are: nepotism, inefficiency, incompetence, embezzlement of state funds, abuse of power, and dereliction of duty. These branches can only be eliminated if the root is eliminated. If only one branch is eliminated, the fundamental issue still exists.

Imagine a minister or politician in charge of a small town hiring his unqualified son, or circumventing the procedure for hiring state staff as an illustration of how all of the above issues stem from corruption. The official may have acted corruptly, but what impact does this have on the State? It puts an inept state employee and an ineffectively run town in the machinery of the State. In my opinion, a solution may be reached by coordinating two policies. These are: a putting together of a bureaucratic code and the setting up of a national oversight commission with the power to remove and convict officials who violate the bureaucratic code. The bureaucratic code may include harsher sentences and punishments for officials who break the law, such as life imprisonment, removal from office, stripping of assets, and (though this may be controversial) the death sentence. It could also include rewards for subordinates who report their superiors to this commission.

MATTHEW LONEY