Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

THE JAMAICA Labour Party plans to launch a full-scale assault against corruption, should it form the next government. The party's general secretary, Karl Samuda, says a zero-tolerance approach against public sector delinquency will be part of its constitutional reform thrust.

"If we do not have checks and balances in the process that prohibits the executive (the Cabinet) from acting as a dictatorship, no amount of effort will override the termination of a corrupt administration," Mr. Samuda told a Gleaner Editors' Forum yesterday at the newspaper's North Street office.

Mr. Samuda said the JLP is committed to legislation that separates Cabinet from making high-profile public sector appointments. The public, he stressed, must be included in a transparent selection process.

"You can't be chairman of UDC (Urban Development Corporation) under a JLP government unless you are brought before the Parliament and the people view you as qualified to hold that job," Mr. Samuda explained. "It can't be a 'fren' thing!"

Vin Lawrence

Mr. Samuda was referring to former UDC head and People's National Party treasurer, Dr. Vin Lawrence, who was appointed to that position based on a Cabinet recommendation. The UDC, with Dr. Lawrence at the helm, was implicated in over US$40 million in cost overruns at the Sandals Whitehouse hotel project in Westmoreland.

No one was convicted following an investigation by Parliament's Public Accounts Committee.

JLP leader, Bruce Golding, has posted constitutional reform at the forefront of his message since he co-founded the National Democratic Movement in 1996.

In late 2002 when Mr. Golding returned to the JLP, he and the party's leadership brokered an agreement endorsing constitutional reform.

Mr. Samuda said the JLP is committed to legislation that ensures a restructuring of the current Westminster model. These include a fixed election date and term limits for prime ministers.

howard.campbell@gleanerjm.com