Ian Boyne

The People's National Party (PNP) has been plagued with bad timing for a couple of years, and that was most evident with its calling of the last general elections. The jinx continues. The party sent out invitations for a media party Friday night, but this is certainly one weekend the PNP has nothing to celebrate.

Long accused by spokespersons of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) as running "the most corrupt administration in the history of the country," with some saying some former ministers should be "wearing short pants", the party faced the humiliation of seeing one such minister hustled into a police vehicle from a lock-up, head buried in shame.

More light on the project

Spencer

After the damning contractor general's report, which gave the media enough juicy and delectable chunks of information about the goings-on under the Cuban Light Bulb Project, the police carried out its investigations and last week put the former junior minister behind bars for three days and three nights before he could get bail. The PNP was nowhere around for Kern in his hour of need. He had to face his Gethsemane alone, apart from the hapless company of his Mary Magdalenes.

A number of persons, while not being supporters of the PNP and while believing that a strong stand must be taken against corruption (of which Kern has not yet been convicted), are nevertheless sorry for him. He has a face which elicits empathy. His youthfulness epitomised hope, buoyancy, confidence, a future. Such a waste, was the sentiment all around.

It is as though some of the detractors of the PNP, having longed to see even one of the PNP ministers made an example of, regret that Kern had to be the one.

Some of my colleagues in the media must make up their minds about the kinds of signals they really want the PNP to send and they themselves must stop sending contradictory signals. When Kern was arrested, the party on that same day issued a terse, but carefully worded release which reaffirmed its "stance against any involvement in acts of corruption". No high-ranking official of the party indeed - no official at all - went to the station to see him or to show any visible support.

For the PNP, it is damned if you do and damned if you don't. If high-ranking officials of the party had turned up at the station, this would be interpreted as a show of support for Kern, and "sending of the wrong signals". It would not be given a positive spin. But when they did not turn up, it is seen as an "abandonment", as a kind of assumption of guilt before trial; a cowardly act of dissociation; a Pilatean act of washing the hands, as it were; a Petrine statement of, "I never knew him". In my view, the PNP has handled this matter in the right way.

The party's release was significant even in its terseness. It left no doubt to the discerning as to its distancing itself from Kern. In saying that it "reasserts its commitment to the highest standards of honesty and integrity", it was clearly acknowledging public disgust with allegations of corruption and abuse of public funds.

The party also said, significantly, that "we also continue to examine the circumstances whereby the adherence to these standards could have been weakened or compromised". It seems that the party now believes that Kern has not been as forthcoming with the party as he could have been, and, therefore, does not deserve its support.

We don't know what the party was told compared to the evidence they saw from the contractor general's report. It seems that since the party read the highly convincing contractor general's report - a tribute to Greg Christie's thoroughness, competence and absolute professionalism - it began to toughen its stance toward him.

There comes a time when tough love is demanded; when anything less is not empathy, but entropy. If we are serious about even the very whisper of corruption, then the proper signals have to be sent and, however late one might say these signals are - even if the cynical wants to say they are opportunistic - those signals must be sent. The PNP is right not to have posted any bail for Kern and to have distanced itself from him. Public sensitivity would have required no less and had the party not done it, the media would have clobbered them. The party has acted both strategically and ethically in not seeming to be "hugging up" Kern, irrespective of what his constituents want to think. We can't have the tail wagging the dog.

Courts decision

We have no evidence until the court has decided that Kern Spencer is guilty of corruption, but the charges against him by the police and facts presented by the contractor general's report are of sufficient magnitude to demand public opprobrium. In refusing to do anything that could possibly be interpreted as a show of support, the PNP has shown commendable leadership, no matter what the die-hard fanatics in the party want to think. We see where die-hard fanaticism and party loyalty have brought this country.

An important lesson to be drawn from the Kern Spencer issue is the importance of looking at "systems, not men", in that memorable phrase which Edward Seaga used as his theme for his 2003 budget. In that budget presentation, Seaga pushed for impeachment of public officials - both elected and unelected - and set out some important guiding criteria.

In assessing the election manifestos, I gave high marks to the JLP's, primarily in the area of governance. (I did not have the kind of confidence in any quick economic turn-around which the mass of the voters had naively and foolishly hoped for. Those promises would not be impressive to me.) As I said before the election, the JLP's proposals for strengthening governance were progressive, enlightened and deserve bi-partisan support.

The whole issue surrounding the Cuban Light Bulb Project and its clear, unmistakable mismanagement, highlights the wisdom of these proposals. The JLP Government must move swiftly to implement them. There is the legislation for the impeachment of public officials not just for corruption or misconduct, but betrayal of public trust. There is the proposal for strengthening the Corruption Prevention Commission and the Parliamentary Integrity Commission to enable them to more effectively punish public officials engaged in corrupt activities.

Special proposals

There is also the proposal for the establishment of a special prosecutor and the provision for the reports of the auditor general , the contractor general and the Corruption Prevention Commission and the Integrity Commission to be debated within 30 days of submission to Parliament. The reform of the libel law is also an important element of this anti-corruption thrust. Systems, not men. We can't just depend on the goodness of men's hearts and moral suasion.

We must have systems to ferret out corrupt politicians and public officials and we shouldn't have to wait until they are out of power to do so. We must ensure that if any of the current JLP ministers engages in corruption that we stuff them into police vehicles and throw them in jail before Mr Golding goes back to the polls. Systems, not men. The rule of law must take precedence, not the rule of any party.

For too long politicians have abused power and caused large numbers of people to become apathetic politically and to be disillusioned, threatening our democratic foundations. I am sorry, but I have absolutely no sympathy for any politician engaged in corruption. I believe the more of them we can throw in prison the better. It would make the others stand in fear and would help to restore credibility to the political project.

It is good for Jamaicans to know that a former minister can be arrested and that no one is, after all, above the law. No big businessman should be above the law, no matter how much money he has or how much power he wields. No big don should be above the law, even if his party is in power. The concept of the rule of law is based on some profound things.

Politicians must be made an example of, for they wield enormous power in a society like ours and, therefore, lack of integrity on their part must bear a heavy price.

Politicians have been responsible for creating criminal garrisons and for snuffing out the lives of defenceless poor people. Who is shedding tears for these oppressed persons?

Kern Spencer would probably have been free to sleep anywhere he wanted had it not been for a remarkably courageous Jamaican hero; a public servant extraordinaire, a man who embodies fearlessness, grit and Teutonic determination. I refer to the truly honourable Greg Christie, contractor general. He justifiably sends fear up the spine of many a public servant. May God give him long life. Had he not been as diligent and as searching in his work, the police would not have had the basis to lay charges against Kern Spencer. At least not so quickly.

While we focus on the corruption of some politicians, if we had more high-ranking public servants with spine, guts and courage - and a willingness to walk away from cushy jobs to keep their integrity - there would not be this level of threat to the safety of the public purse. It is these public servants who often cower to politicians to do their dirty bidding. Systems, not men, indeed, but a few good men (and women) would have helped us considerably.

Ian Boyne is a veteran journalist who may be reached at ianboyne1@yahoo.com.