Update | Why Jamaica made little progress on the corruption index

The National Integrity Action (NIA) is suggesting that the government's decision to reduce the number of parliamentary committees chaired by Opposition members influenced Jamaica's ranking on the 2020 Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Following the 2020 general election, Prime Minister Andrew Holness reversed the convention, only retaining Opposition chairmanship of the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee and the Public Accounts Committee.

READ: Government scraps Golding chairmanship tradition

In the 2020 index, Jamaica showed little improvement over 2019, inching up from a score of 43 to 44 out of 100, where zero is deemed very corrupt and 100 is very clean.

This marginal improvement moves Jamaica to 69th out of 180 countries, up five places from 74th in the 2019 CPI ranking.

However, despite Jamaica’s slight movement, it remains the fifth most corrupt state in the Caribbean ahead of Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Dominican Republic and Haiti.

READ: Jamaica remains Caribbean's fifth most corrupt country 

At a press conference this morning, head of the National Integrity Action Professor Trevor Munroe said Jamaica has not made sufficient gains in the corruption fight.

"Jamaica can and urgently needs to pull itself above the pass-mark of 50, below which we have been stuck for the last ten years," he said.

Seven reasons the NIA believes Jamaica has made little movement on the Corruption Perception Index:

1. Significant irregularities in the award and supervision of road construction contracts revealed in Performance Reports by the Auditor General.

2. Inordinate delay in passing legislation to strengthen Jamaica’s Anti Corruption Framework. For example, at the end of 2020, the Major Organised Crime and Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency was still not an independent agency, despite commitments made and explanations offered; important amendments to strengthen the Integrity Commission - arising from recommendations made in their Annual Reports of June 2019 and July 2020 - are yet to be considered by the Parliament.

3. Chronic breaches, reducing transparency and accountability, of the annual reporting requirements mandated by law, by scores of budget-funded public bodies and agencies. Only 1 of 164 public bodies and agencies were current in their annual reports as noted on the Cabinet Secretary’s website, and prompting a circular from the Ministry of Finance in October 2020, requesting compliance. Yet, there was no punishment for the delinquent officers.

4. Diminution of the role of the Opposition in providing Parliamentary oversight of the Executive arising from the ending of the convention that Opposition members would chair a number of the Sessional Parliamentary Committees.

5. The disclosure in the annual report of the Auditor General of billions in taxpayer money at risk in ministries, department and agencies most notably the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

6. The repeated delays in the commencement of the trial of former Education Minister Ruel Reid, and his co-accused on corruption-related charges.

7. No disclosure of any prosecution arising from the Integrity Commission’s Investigations into Petrojam.

How Caribbean countries appear in the ranking:​

Barbados
Rank: 28th
​Score: 64

The Bahamas 
Rank: 30th
Score: 63

St Vincent and the Grenadines
Rank: 40th 
​Score: 59

St Lucia 
Rank: 45th
​Score: 56

Dominica 
Rank: 48th
​Score: 55

Grenada 
Rank: 52nd
​Score: 53

Cuba 
Rank: 63rd
​Score: 47

Jamaica
Rank: 69th
​Score:​ 44

Guyana 
Rank: 83rd
​Score: 40

Trinidad and Tobago
Rank: 86th
​Score: 40

Dominican Republic
Rank: 137th
Score: 28

Haiti
Rank: 170th
​Score:​ 18

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