Mark Titus, Freelance Writer

WESTERN Bureau:

Montego Bay businessman, Mark Kerr-Jarrett is calling on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to act on her word and ensure that those responsible for the unlawful spending of the public purse are criminally investigated.

"I expect the Prime Minister to live up to her word, that if something (corrupt) is going on in the public domain, they are not to call her, but call the police, and I expect the police to investigate this vigorously so that the taxpayers get value for money." he said. "Spending the public's money (irresponsibly) is equivalent to robbery and corruption, and those who have chosen to do this should feel the full weight of the law; and if this means they are to go to jail, they should be jailed."

Kerr-Jarrett was speaking against the background of Auditor General Adrian Strachan's report for the financial year ended March 31, 2006, which highlighted the perennial practice of public entities spending money from the public purse in breach of existing regulations, as well as the awarding of contracts valued over half a billion dollars to favoured parties by several government agencies.

Kerr-Jarrett further stated that taxpayers were being cheated while some genetically connected individuals were profiting in a very disgraceful way.

Government a steward

"This is the people's money, not the government's," he said. "I think we have worked too hard to pay our taxes, to have some scoundrel give it to his friends. This money is given to the government to steward it, to ensure that we have a safe environment to live in, hospitals to go to, schools to send our children to, police to protect us and good roads to drive on."

In a recent Gleaner article, Strachan called for sanctions for those responsible for these breaches.

"In some cases, that is what I believe would be appropriate - heavy fines or jailtime," he said, "What we need is something that will get people to stop doing some of the things that they are doing. Whatever will get them to stop is what we should be striving for."

Commenting on the perennial breaches cited by Strachan, Errol Gregory, financial analyst, said that while the Government has passed a number of laws, including the Access to Information Act, the administration is "seemingly not seriously committed to change".

"On one hand, the government speaks a lot about the kind of legislation it has on the books, but the question of sanctions or the enforce-ment of existing ones is where the government falls down and that is where we should be keeping the pressure up," he said. "When you don't have a signal coming from the top to say you will be dealt with, if the laws of the land are not adhered to, then it (corruption) filters down into national life."

He added: "We must take into account the fact that the auditor general and the contractor general have been detecting breaches upon breaches over the years, but those in authority have done nothing about it, and it has sent the wrong signal to society."

Arguing that the offices of the contractor general and auditor general have been given "a basket to carry water", the economist said: "Those charged to ensure that the public purse is used appropriately are not doing that. If we are really serious, we must have both the legislation to facilitate action, accompanied by the resources to really make us be able to put a stop to it and to send a signal to the rest of the society that public accountability is a priority."