Integrity Legislation-1
Government's proposed Integrity Legislation is an important step in enhancing the Democracy of our Federation, and should be lauded. The form it finally takes is what is key, and the consultative process that government has invited is especially commendable. We should take advantage of it!!!
Useful would be examples of similar legislation in the region and beyond, and we should try to source these so that we do not try to re-invent the wheel.
Integrity legislation is one of the pillars of the current international drive against Corruption generally, which has been pushed by the pioneering work of Jeremy Pope, of New Zealand and the world. A brief bio for him can be found at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Pope
A wonderful guide for anyone thinking about these issues is the site of the Pope initiated organization, Transparency International (TI)
http://transparency.org/
Pope's current project “TIRI” is a concept well in keeping with government's proposed legislation, as tiri is a Maori (indigenous New Zealand) word meaning, in essence 'lifting the taboos for the protection of society.'
Anti-corruption initiatives have historically been pushed by civil society and opposition parties (NOT one and the same) and our government here is especially to be commended for following this path whilst it holds the reins of power. Transparency is the key to real democracy and this legislation is a key part of Enhancing real transparency, a factor increasingly being sought by international organizations and donor agencies.
The key areas for anti-corruption activity, as pointed out at transparency.org are:
campaign and political party finance
Integrity legislation has ties to many of the areas indicated above. Though one generally thinks of corruption relationship to sitting governments, corruption in the private sector is also very real, and requires addressing. Other important areas, pointed out in the key Sourcebook (Chapters 20-22, 24 and 27), downloadable at TI's site are:
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Public Sector Ethics, monitoring and Integrity Testing
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Conflict of Interest, Nepotism and Cronyism
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Public Procurement: where the Public and Private sectors do Business
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The right to Information – Information, Public Awareness and Public Records and
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Laws to Fight Corruption
Any amount of Integrity legislation is just a whitewash if there is not ready access to information. Most information should in fact be posted so that it is there for anyone to get, without being branded for merely looking. It is also imperative that citizens not leave this matter up to the politicians as the opposition might well go along with any efforts to limit complete transparency if they feel they might one day be on the other side.
Consultation is a two way street, and regional and international governments often fly this flag when they really mean, “tell us what you think, and then we will sign on to the parts of it we really want, add the parts you didn't include and then go forward with the program we had in mind.” Given past experience with our government, we know this is not the case here, and look forward to meaningful discussion of the issues, with incorporation of the ideas of the people.
This whole issue is very emotive, and our Political parties will have firm ideas on what they want out of it. It is important that we citizens grapple with it firmly, free of being 'branded' for speaking if we agree or disagree with any facet pushed by any political faction, and, to paraphrase the Honorable Deputy Prime Minister when he spoke at Sir Probyn's recent “Buckley's Riots in Perspective” presentation at the UWI Center, “not just let the politicians dictate the issues and their solutions and then cry after”.
Ian Jacobs
St. Peter's, St. Kitts. 9 February, 2008
