Don’t blunt anti-corruption tools – Christie
Published:Tuesday | July 1, 2025 | 12:06 AM
Greg Christie, former executive director of the Integrity Commission (IC), has argued that Jamaica cannot effectively fight the ever-increasing sophistication of 21st-century corruption and bribery with weakened anti-corruption laws and deliberately blunted tools.
In his final remarks as executive director, Christie signalled that the entire issue of reform in terms of the anti-corruption framework is concerning.
“It requires urgent, sober, impartial and decisive address. This is more so since indications are that the country is currently moving in the direction of weakening the Integrity Commission Act (ICA), rather than strengthening it,” Christie observed in his written comments contained in the annual report of the Integrity Commission which was tabled in Parliament last week.
Christie reminded the country that the IC has already submitted several remedial recommendations to the joint select committee of Parliament that was established to review the ICA.
The committee completed its deliberations in June; however, Christie said it is yet to be seen what their outcomes will be.
“ Be that as it may, and as was previously stated, effective anti-corruption is not a static mechanism. It has to be fluid and, above all, responsive,” he added.
Emphasising the need for the ICA to be reviewed to ensure its provisions are unequivocal in meaning and intent, Christie highlighted that the law has “ a number of ambiguities and inherent conflicts – both patent and latent – thus rendering its interpretation, application and enforcement, uncertain, unreliable and problematic”.
The former IC point man said that in keeping with, among other things, Jamaica’s international anti-corruption treaty obligations, a strengthened and independent IC must also mean having an anti-corruption body that is vested with the capability to hire and competitively compensate competent professionals, whether drawn from the public or the private sector.
He said the IC has been experiencing significant and prolonged difficulties in hiring and/or retaining competent staff, due primarily to its uncompetitive compensation rates.
“A lso, closely aligned with the imperative of anti-corruption institutional independence, is ensuring that the appointment, tenure and decisions of the leadership of national anti-corruption bodies are effectively insulated from political interference and adverse external manipulation,” Christie penned in his final remarks.
INDEPENDENT AGENCY NECESSARY
A strong and independent national anti-corruption institution, anchored in a sound legislative framework, is the bedrock of good governance in any society, the former IC director wrote.
Continuing, he said this is especially the case in emerging economies where integrity systems are weak; ethical leadership is wanting; public offices are routinely subjected to abuse; corruption is taken lightly; bribery is prevalent; poverty is rife; and there is a perception of two laws – one for the connected or privileged, which is seldom enforced, and the other for everyone else.
In such circumstances, Christie noted, insisting upon good governance, transparency, and integrity in leadership, and seeking to hold offending public officials accountable are not luxuries. To the contrary, he said they are fundamental necessities for national socio-economic development, equality in treatment, and the protection of democratic freedoms.
According to Christie, should Jamaica fail to heed the call, “then we must be prepared to face the painful consequences of regret when the devastating impact of unchecked corruption spreads across the entire society – as it inevitably will”.
Christie’s contract expired in May this year and he did not seek renewal.