The business of corruption
THE RECENT exposés on Delano Seiveright’s extraordinary impact on the public purse and the tangled web at Petrojam have catapulted corruption to the forefront of national public concern and discussion yet again, replete with accusations of wanga-gut behaviour, nepotism and mismanagement countered by denials, ‘Anansi’ explanations and jackass stories. As is customary, those at the epicentre of such brouhahas always seem to have ‘stay out of jail cards’ regardless of how barefaced the issues are.
THE PROBLEM
Corruption is predicated on being influenced by or engaging in morally depraved or wicked practices, especially bribery and fraudulent activities. Our main problem is corruption in government and the public sector, the impenitent corralling of [public] resources and opportunities for selfserving purposes, the net effect of which is to deny the citizenry from accessing those resources and opportunities. Unfortunately, the most needy and vulnerable in our society are the biggest losers.
Sadly, corruption is a hugely lucrative business, grounded on having nebulous governance structures and accountability systems in place, where ambiguity reigns. Power players can change the rules as they go and implement dubious practices because there are no intrinsic gatekeepers who can rein them in or hold them accountable for their transgressions.
MULTIFACETED BUSINESS
Corralling resources and opportunities is a fourfold issue. First, there is the straightforward thievery, especially the siphoning of public money and resources into private coffers. This extends to unauthorised abatements on customs duties, traffic offences and similar public charges, all for an ‘underthe-table’ price, of course.
Second, it is about using positions of power and authority to determine whether or not resources and opportunities will be made available to individuals or the society at large, and under what ‘conditions’ they may be made available. Simply put, there must be something in it for the office holders and dem cronies, otherwise go fly a kite. Another twist to this is that only their cronies get the opportunities and ultimately the resources. Think of the many cases of bang-belly politicians entering office with ‘white squall’ a bus the two sides ah dem mouth; check dem in a year’s time, fat and rosy with pork oil running down dem chin.
Third, corruption pertains to the dithering so commonplace throughout our public sector in relation to the maintenance of national infrastructure, especially regarding disaster mitigation and prevention. Disaster recovery and rehabilitation is big business, so why avert a disaster when there is lucrative profit to be had? Just look around at the overgrown gullies and blocked drains despite now being in the hurricane season: yuh see anything meaningful happening? So-so chat and posturing, while profiteers of the lowest order are waiting to nyam a food.
Fourth, there are those who overindulge at public expense, buoyed on by nepotist politicians who themselves exploit the system. The decimation of the civil service, namely the usurping of permanency for accounting officers, aka permanent secretaries, and their replacement by contracted persons of ‘nepotist persuasion’ and limited tenure, has allowed the politicos and their cronies to scandalously live large at our expense. Just think of the thousands of Jamaicans whose lives could be significantly improved if these parasites were to practise restraint and live within the means of the country.
This is the reality of our public service today, sculpted into a ‘yes-massah’ system bereft of ‘old-school’ permanent secretaries empowered to protect the public’s interest without fear of excommunication. Our [political] masters have no intention of righting the system. Corruption is their business, politics their means to maintaining mastery over a hostage market. It is a sick system.