The provision of public information about how much money was allocated to each school dramatically increased the actual grant received, compared to the intended amount, to primary schools in Uganda. In the 1990s, Uganda set out to increase significantly the allocation of education dollars to its primary schools. But there were huge gaps between the intended grant and the amount received at school level until public information provided schools and citizens with direct information on how much money had been actually allocated. Transparency and citizen oversight rapidly narrowed the gaping gap between intended grant and actual grant received.

The Ugandan story was just one of several anti-corruption lessons from around the world gathered by the World Bank Institute (WBI), and presented to the June 22 meeting of the National Integrity Action Forum [NIAF]. The Blue Room at the Mona Visitor's Lodge, University of the West Indies (UWI), was filled with a stellar cast of corruption fighters from key agencies of State and civil society.

'invasive and destructive'

"Corruption," Minister of Finance Audley Shaw said, as he delivered the main address on the Government's anti-corruption programme, "runs throughout the economy like a virus. It is pervasive, it is invasive, and it is destructive." He backed that up with a string of examples, which would have been completely discouraging had it not been a gathering of corruption fighters with some successes to report.

Not only is corruption affecting economic performance and governance, it is hurting the integrity and character of the nation, and is a threat to democracy and national security, the minister said.

While many more strategic arrests will have to be made, there are several high-profile corruption cases before the courts, and, strangely enough, while there has been a decline in imports of some commodities, customs revenue has increased in those areas since Danville Walker took up the appointment as commissioner of customs.

Professor Trevor Munroe, who heads up the NIAF out of the UWI with USAID support, reminded the meeting that corruption had now emerged in the polls as the second most important thing wrong with Jamaica, ranking only behind crime. If Medellín can be cleaned up, then Jamaica can, the minister told his audience. But no person or institution in Jamaica can single-handedly solve the problem of corruption.

We lionise Danville Walker at customs, and Greg Christie in the Office of the Contractor General, but a broad, collaborative approach involving all sectors of society must be resolutely taken for any successful fight against corruption, with Government taking the lead, Shaw understands.

diagnostic study

Mark Nelson of the World Bank Institute, who was leading a team in Jamaica at the invitation of the Government to conduct a US$300,000 diagnostic study on corruption, made it clear that corruption penalised the poorest citizens the most. Poor individual citizens and small firms pay proportionately more in bribes to get State services to which they are already entitled. But it is precisely these small firms which drive economic performance.

It was a bit of a surprise to hear Shaw outlining crisply and clearly that the current Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration had come to office with five clear goals, the achievement of most of which was affected by the levels of corruption pervading the system. I might have missed something. I don't recall. But here we have it. The five goals, by which we can now pretty easily measure the performance of the Government, are: 1) Debt management 2) Tax reform 3) Reform of the public sector 4) Energy reform 5) Investment creation.

We do a lot of planning by feeling. The corruption diagnostics now under way should help. The power of diagnostic data can help us to: 1) Unbundle corruption as administrative, state capture, bidding, theft of public resources, purchase of licences 2) Identify weak and strong institutions 3) Assess the cost of corruption on different stakeholders 4) Identify key determinants of good governance 5) Develop concrete policy recommendations.

There is also a strong negative correlation between civil liberties, the rule of law, and corruption. That is, the better civil liberties are, with freedom of the press a key indicator, and the stronger the rule of law, the lower corruption is likely to be. Jamaica is blessed with one of the highest levels of press freedom in the world, as measured by others, despite concerns expressed at the NIAF meeting about the restrictions of libel legislation and poor media use of the Access to Information Act. And the rule of law is pretty robust here. So there is a sturdy platform from which to fight corruption. The NIAF expects a great deal from the media. Several media leaders and commentators were at the meeting. And the media expressed its own expectations of the NIAF, including a strong data feed good to go.

accountability mechanisms

Next on the list is external accountability mechanisms, which provide 'voice' to civil society. "While laws and institutions are important, external accountability measures ... have an even bigger impact." Jamaica sits smack in the middle of WBI voice and accountability data for the Caribbean, with Puerto Rico and St Lucia leading, and Haiti and Cuba bringing up the rear. Well, ever since Shaw's Budget presentation with its tax measures, I have had an external accountability wish which I can express now: 20 per cent of the special consumption tax on fuel this year is earmarked for road maintenance. I am requesting public accounts on this provision from both works and finance so that citizens can see and check how every single dollar is spent. Media, please help.

Transparency mechanisms, incentives, increased efficiency in governance with political reform, and pressure from firms, civil society and donors, are other important factors in reducing corruption. But the most powerful actions are those that draw public attention to corruption problems. The public's view now of corruption as problem number two is a measure of some success in this area.

Civil society and its elites in leadership have strategically important roles to play and are very much engaged with the NIAF, whose stated purpose is "to bring together for more effective action to combat corruption, public officials at the helm of Jamaica's criminal justice and national integrity institutions, on the one hand, and leaders of the private sector and of civil society on the other". The forum has established an anti-corruption hotline: 1-800-CORRUPT.

Martin Henry is a communications consultant. Email may be sent to medhen@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.