Minister admits corruption a problem in Jamaica

The CPI, compiled by Transparency International and released last week, ranked Jamaica 99. That’s three spots down from last year, suggesting increased corruption in that Caribbean country. (File photo)

KINGSTON, Jamaica, November 23, 2009 – Jamaica isn’t protesting its position on the recently published 2009 Corruption Perception Index (CPI). In fact, the Finance and Public Service Minister Audley Shaw says corruption is a big problem in the country and needs to be rooted out.

The CPI, compiled by Transparency International and released last week, ranked Jamaica 99. That’s three spots down from last year, suggesting increased corruption in that Caribbean country.

"I am not going to get into an argument with Transparency International, as to whether it is true that we slipped three places, or maybe we should have improved three places: That's neither here nor there," Shaw said.

"The point is things bad in Jamaica when it comes to corruption. Things bad in Jamaica when I have to be reminding my people in the Tax Departments that they can't register cars illegally and we have to be locking up people in our tax departments,” the minister continued, adding that others would face the courts.

Shaw insisted that the threats to the integrity of national institutions like the tax and customs departments and the police force, which are inspired by corrupt individuals, "is a clear and present danger to the future of our country."

He cautioned that if the danger is not confronted, it could become a threat to democracy and stability.

"We are operating in an environment where our standards, as a country, have been falling very, very badly and very, very precipitously," Minister Shaw lamented, as he urged persons to dedicate themselves to a "missionary drive" to get rid of corruption in Jamaica.

"If we don't do it, then those who can leave, will leave...It can be done, we must have the will to do it," he said.

Among the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries on the CPI, Barbados ranked the highest at 20, followed by St Lucia at 22, St Vincent and the Grenadines at 31, Dominica at 34, Suriname at 75, Trinidad and Tobago at 79, Jamaica at 99, and Guyana at 126. Haiti was last among the region's countries, coming in at 168 out of a total of 180 nations surveyed.