Trevor Munroe | CPI 2020: Jamaica needs to get to the pass mark
The release of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2020 results comes at a time of unprecedented crises for the Jamaican people as well as for countries around the world. We face the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic downturn that has most of us struggling to make two ends meet, and a spate of violent crime and savage murders. The CPI 2020 results, therefore, come at a time when every Jamaican needs to do all in his or her power to make sure that every single dollar of public money is well spent, properly accounted for and not going down the drain because of corrupt or irresponsible conduct.
Just think how much more we could do to improve conditions in our schools and hospitals, for our teachers, health workers, and the security forces, for our pensioners, and for providing opportunity to youth in marginalised communities were we to come together to cut some of the $95 billion (estimated) lost or stolen by the corrupt and organised criminals each year.
In Jamaica’s case, the CPI – over the years – has placed our country among the two-thirds of countries in the world who score under 50, where 100 is the least corrupt and 0 is the most corrupt. At the same time, our country has uniformly ranked in the bottom half of states measured. Truthfully, we have moved marginally up and marginally down over the years but have remained in the absolutely unsatisfactory situation of being among the most corrupt, especially at a time when we need to make sure that every dollar counts. We continued to tread water beneath the surface of integrity. Hence, CPI 2018 saw us stagnant at score 44; CPI 2019 showed slippage to 43; and now, CPI 2020 has Jamaica’s score marginally improved to 44, with 68 countries performing better than us, including comparable CARICOM states – such as Barbados, Bahamas, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia, Dominica, Grenada – which all score above 50. Indeed, in the Caribbean, only Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, and Haiti score less than we do.
As has been the case in previous years, there were some significant positives, but these in large measure were cancelled by negative developments during the year. Among the pluses were:
1. The relatively transparent administration of the COVID-19 relief package despite some inadequacies noted by the auditor general.
2. The reaffirmation of the independence of our judiciary and their co-equal status with the legislature and the executive in the Supreme Court ruling that detentions under the states of emergency constituted an “egregious overstepping of the bounds of the powers of the executive”.
3. The trial and convictions of a number of Manchester Municipal Corporation officers in one of the most significant corruption trials within recent years.
4. The resignation of the mayor of St Ann’s Bay arising from public pressure relating to credible corruption allegations.
5. The unprecedented Consensus Agreement signed by the prime minister, the leader of the Opposition, and 20 civil society organisations to deal with crime, corruption, and violence.
6. The relatively free and fair general elections of 2020, continuing Jamaica’s high performance in election administration.
7. The commencement of integrity training, mandated by the prime minister, for Cabinet members.
At the same time, during 2020, there were significant minuses, some of them chronic, negating the positives achieved during the year:
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Image: Wikimedia Commons