Loopholes loom
Published:Tuesday | June 22, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter
There are growing fears that proposed new regulations governing the registration and financing of political parties will not go far enough.
The proposed regulations will not force political parties to make public disclosure of their donors - one of the key demands from critics who have argued for years that secret contributions to political parties fuel wide-scale corruption.
Analysts say drug lords and other criminals donate money to political parties in return for protection and other favours while some businesses receive kickbacks for their political contributions.
But the new regulations - slated to be finalised by the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) early next month - only require the political parties to disclose their donors to a private committee, not the public at large.
This is not good enough for attorney-at-law Jacqueline Samuels-Brown and Professor Trevor Munroe, who have, for years, led the charge for rules governing donations to political parties.
"We have the advantage in Jamaica of the realities of what the present system of secret donations involves," declared Samuels-Brown at a Gleaner Editors' Forum last Friday.
"It cannot be business as usual," argued Munroe, noting that larger numbers of Jamaicans are pointing to corruption as a major problem.
"It is my view that, first of all, the greater good requires full disclosure. Second, donations are voluntary, so each individual has to look at the benefit and the cost," added Samuels-Brown, as she rejected arguments that persons could face backlash if it goes public that they are making donations to political parties.
Applying the brakes
The attorney-at-law said persons sometimes made donations to political parties with amounts that were disproportionate to their income.
"Because they are a medium for other people who cannot come forward to make the donations, by requiring disclosure and full transparency, we would put a brake on that," said Samuels-Brown.
She was supported by Mike Williams, general secretary of the National Demo-cratic Movement.
"There should be full disclosure of all donations. Maybe with a minimum, but if entities make multiple donations below that minimum, those should also be disclosed," said Williams.
"The greatest facilitator for corruption in Jamaica is the lack of transparency, and it is only when we open up the system fully that we will deal with corruption," Williams added.
No consensus
But the ECJ, political parties and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) seem less inclined to move to an ultra-transparent paradigm, at least in the recommendations which are expected to be agreed on early next month.
"We have proposed that all contributions should be disclosed to the ECJ and a select committee in the ECJ will disclose the amounts that are donated, but not the names," said Janet Morrison, head of the PSOJ Justice Reform Committee.
"They will keep that confidential and they will use that information to monitor political parties," Morrison added.
She argued that the PSOJ was concerned that if the names of donors and their amounts were made public, the reputation and image of such contributors might be compromised.
The PSOJ position appears in keeping with the ECJ's.
"The ECJ is not recommending that all disclosures be made public unless, after investigation, a particular disclosure is found to be false or otherwise in breach of the principles," Dorothy Pine-McLarty, independent member of the ECJ, told the Editors' Forum.
She argued that the new law will include provisions for the ECJ to report to the director of public prosecutions cases where suspected tainted money is donated to parties.
New rules
The new rules will require political parties to register and open their books for scrutiny by a body to be established, possibly with the independent members of the ECJ.
The governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the Opposition People's National Party (PNP) have already endorsed the ECJ's recommendations, ensuring their quick passage through Parliament.
However, PNP General Secretary Peter Bunting and JLP treasurer Christopher Bovell told the Editors' Forum that they would not be opposed to laying all the cards on table.
"We agreed to the disclosure to the committee as an interim step because it was better than nothing, but that is not our ideal," Bunting said.
"If any individual or corporate entity makes a donation that they are embarrassed about or they want to hide, there must be something improper," Bunting argued.
"The JLP recognises the position of the ECJ that private-sector companies are wary of public disclosure, but if the PSOJ was to say there was a substantial movement from that, the JLP would go with it," Bovell said.