Politicians, police perceived to be most corrupt - survey
Published:Thursday | July 11, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter
TRANSPARENCY INTER-NATIONAL'S Global Corruption Barometer has indicated that politicians and the police in Jamaica are in a statistical dead heat for the label of being most corrupt.
The findings of a survey of 1,003 Jamaicans between September 2012 and March 2013 revealed that 85 per cent of the respondents believes that political parties were affected by corruption, while 86 per cent has a similar view of the police.
Seventy-four per cent of the legislature was also perceived as being affected by corruption while Jamaicans believe that 47 per cent of the judiciary was impacted by corruption.
The business community and the media did not escape the dark cloud of corruption hanging over the country. According to the survey, 36 per cent of Jamaicans is of the view that businesses in Jamaica are affected by corruption while 30 per cent felt the media was impacted by corrupt practices.
At the same time, 53 per cent (entirely - 17 per cent; to a large extent - 36 per cent) of the respondents is convinced that government is run by a few big entities acting in their own best interests. The perception that so-called big-wigs influence government policies and decisions becomes even more worrying if another 26 per cent of respondents who claim that this is "somewhat" the case is taken into account.
The Global Corruption Barometer examines how corruption features in people's lives around the world. It draws on the results of a Transparency International survey of more than 114,000 respondents in 107 countries. It polls people's direct experiences with bribery and details their views on corruption in the main institutions in their countries.
In Jamaica, the proposed law to deal with campaign financing for political parties has again been delayed and will not be brought to Parliament this legislative year.
On the other hand, the Government has said it will table a bill for the registration of political parties during the current parliamentary year.