EDITORIAL - The price of corruption

Yesterday in Brussels, Cecilia Malmstrom, the European Union's (EU) commissioner for home affairs, issued the EU's first report on the 27-member community. The findings would have disturbed the EU.

While the perception is not uniform across the member states and there is a wide gap between personal knowledge of corruption and perception of the problem, 76 per cent of EU citizens say that corruption is prevalent in their country. A similar number (73 per cent) feel that bribery and the use of connections are the easiest ways to access public services, while just over a quarter (26 per cent) are of the view that the consequences of corruption affect them personally.

Additionally, four out of 10 firms consider corruption an impediment to doing business in the EU and that patronage and nepotism are matters for concern.

Only 23 per cent of European citizens believe that their governments' efforts in dealing with corruption are effective.

This, of course, is not merely an academic exercise, for corruption has a real economic price: Ms Malmstrom's report estimates that it costs EU members, combined, about €120 billion (US$160 billion) annually, or the commission's annual budget.

Or, as Ms Malmstrom put it in remarks to the press at the unveiling of the report: "Corruption undermines citizens' confidence in democratic institutions and the rule of law. It hurts the economy and deprives states of much-needed tax revenue."

We draw attention to the EU's report not merely for its own sake, but because of its relevance to our own situation and our hope that it might, perhaps, be an inspiration for our Government to push ahead with its own robust anti-corruption initiatives.

The point is that while several EU members such as Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Luxembourg are deemed among the world's least corrupt, the EU's study acknowledges a serious and expensive problem in the union. Further, for a country such as our own, it is not the case of a seemingly haughty, supercilious lot from the Northern Hemisphere lecturing us about our shortcomings and what is to be done about them.

High cost

Or, put another way, corruption is a global problem with a high cost that Jamaica, less so than the EU, can ill afford to bear. Its subduing, if not total, defeat demands continuous and concerted effort.

Indeed, as Ms Malmstrom remarked yesterday about the EU: "Member states have done a lot (to fight corruption), but today's report shows that it is far from enough."

Our Government will point to its own efforts at fighting corruption even as recent surveys continue to show public perception of corruption in Jamaica continues to be stratospheric - above 80 per cent. Like in Europe, people do not feel that our anti-corruption initiatives have been effective, especially with regard to detecting and prosecuting big players.

In this regard, we look forward to Justice Minister Mark Golding's promise to soon table, and have debated, the law for a single anti-corruption agency with prosecutorial powers and operational independence.

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