PNP should enter anti-corruption compact with people

WE ARE heartened that Dr Peter Phillips had publicly affixed his imprimatur to the obligation of law enforcement to prosecute politicians who accept graft, engage in extortion, or are otherwise criminally corrupt. But the Opposition leader probably knows that many Jamaicans will be sceptical of his sincerity, believing he intends to draw a red line at the door of his People’s National Party (PNP). That is why Dr Phillips needs to do more to build confidence that the PNP is wholly intolerant of corruption, and not just in opposition.

Clearly, Dr Phillips’ party has been the political beneficiary of the corruption scandals that have dogged Andrew Holness’ Government for most of the three years it has been in office. Among the big issues were the allegations, highlighted by a report by the auditor general, of nepotism, cronyism, breaches of procurement rules, and a wanton waste of public resources at the state-owned Petrojam oil refinery and other agencies in the portfolio of the former energy and technology minister, Andrew Wheatley, who was forced to quit the Cabinet 15 months ago.

More recently, similar allegations have engulfed the education ministry, whose former head, Ruel Reid, his wife, and his daughter were this month arrested for fraud and other acts of corruption. The head of the Caribbean Maritime University, Fritz Pinnock, and Kim Brown Lawrence, a governing Jamaica Labour Party member of the St Ann municipal authority, were also arrested as part of the same conspiracy.

“I believe what has happened … should be something that bolsters confidence in the country that… security forces are willing to act, no matter the status or the office of the individual,” Dr Phillips said at a briefing with this newspaper. We share that observation.

However, the PNP leader was forced to fend off a claim made in 2016 by Paul Burke that the taking of kickbacks, represented as agents’ fees, from construction firms and other investors was a norm for political parties across the divide. “I have never known the PNP to have any agents’ fee for anybody,” Dr Phillips said.

HOLD PARTY ACCOUNTABLE

Dr Phillips’ name, during his long political career, has not been associated with corruption. Indeed, he enjoys wide credibility in this regard. But that doesn’t mean others associated with the PNP, if not formally to the benefit of the party, haven’t been corrupt. The corrupt circumstances, though, provide Peter Phillips, who has now led the PNP for two and half years, the opportunity to draw a red line on behalf of his party and make a fundamental difference against corruption nationally.

First, we propose that Dr Phillips, as part of a show of seriousness to who might question his motive, as well as an affirmation of his intolerance of corruption, enter a compact with the Jamaican people, which he swears to and signs before, and notarised by, a notary public or some similar official at a highly public event.

Copies of that compact, with pledges of specific actions to be taken by the PNP and its leader in the face of allegations of corruption against the party’s members, should be widely circulated. A draft should be available for public comment prior to its signing. Further, all PNP caretakers and election candidates should have to sign a variation of this document at the time of their selection.

This suggestion, if embraced, shouldn’t be seen as a political gimmick but a solemn pledge to the Jamaican people against which Dr Phillips and his party would be willing to hold themselves accountable.

‘It baffles me that a Catholic, Christian school would think that it is appropriate to raise money for itself in a way that is a direct assault on its neighbours.’