By
Nathan ‘Jolly’ Green. July 13 2020.

Firstly,
what is corruption? Often, we use expressions or terms without having
a clear understanding of their meaning or implications. In most
dictionaries, corruption is described as dishonest or fraudulent
conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.

Is
corruption merely the reflection of a lack of integrity? I suppose it
can be described as that, but it can also be described as a breach of
Christian values, theft of decency and society led by corrupt
officials using corrupt means to stay in power.

So where
does election corruption come into the equation? In most countries,
democratic elections have been assumed to play a crucial role in
curbing corruption among public officials. Normally voters, due to
their general distaste for corruption, are expected to sanction
politicians who misuse public office for private gains.

But not
in Saint Vincent where a large proportion of the voters are more than
willing to accept bribes to vote in favour of the Unity Labour Party
[ULP].

Integrity
is another term we often use but without realizing its implications.
For instance, when the 2001 elections took place in Saint Vincent and
the Grenadines, Mr Vincent Beach MP, said if we do not have integrity
legislation within a hundred days, I will be gone. The ULP had
championed integrity legislation before it came to office in 2001,
saying while in opposition that it had a draft law. But once in
power, it turned out that it was the last thing they wanted because
it tied their hands.

Integrity
is defined as: ‘honest’, ‘uprightness’, ‘soundness’,
‘completeness’, ‘wholeness’, ‘incorruptible’. Evangelist
Billy Graham, said, ‘When we speak of integrity as a moral value,
it means that a person is the same on the outside as he is inside.
There is no discrepancy between what he says and what he acts,
between his talk and his walk.’

But this
moral model cannot be found in the current government of SVG.

February
24, 2009, in a historic moment in Parliament, Prime Minister Dr Ralph
Gonsalves seconded a motion raised by Opposition Leader Arnhim
Eustace, bringing the motion on Integrity Legislation to the floor.

That
draft included the establishment of a Commission to oversee the
execution of the legislation. It was recommended that this Commission
include the Director of Audit and four other persons to be appointed
by the Governor-General from among persons who could include retired
judges, persons who have served as Director of Finance, Comptroller
of Inland Revenue or in the position of Director of Audit.

Parliamentarians
will declare their assets, liabilities, and income from every source
to this Commission within three months of their election. They will
then make a fresh submission by December 31 every year, while they
serve in parliament.

Eustace
said that Commission must also have the power to report any illegal
or suspicious findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

If a
person fails to make the mandatory declaration, they should be
reported to the parliamentary leaders, namely the Prime Minister and
Opposition Leader.

Persons
on the staff of the Commission are also going to be held to the
strictest of confidence, and if they leak any of the information
declared to the Commission, they can be fined or jailed for any
unauthorized breach.

Dr
Gonsalves obviously did not like the legislation at all, he raised
questions about the demands of such legislation, saying that it could
create difficulty in attracting persons to public office, who may
find it difficult to submit themselves to that.

By 2016,
the integrity legislation was still not gazetted and made law; it
appeared to be abandoned. Gonsalves made a statement “The question
is to enlarge those things and to go particularly for the matter of
declaring assets and liabilities. And the difficulties with it, are
you going to do it for ministers and not doing it for permanent
secretaries?” said Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Legal
Affairs. He said the difficulties that arise with the various
integrity legislation drafts include senior public servants wanting
exemption because they must submit not only their returns but also
that of their spouse and children who live with them.

“They
say, ‘Listen, I am not going to take on this burden. I am a
permanent secretary, and my husband is a businessman. I have to do
that?’’’ Gonsalves said.

Gonsalves
said there is already a difficulty in getting people to serve as
members of boards of directors of state companies.

But we
the Vincentian people know there is no difficulty in awarding such
jobs to the boys, who are paid such huge fees they would have no
cause to turn down such a position when offered. Legislation or no
legislation they will take the jobs and take their salaries to the
bank in wheelbarrows.

So, no
integrity legislation, and what appears to be a licence for a free
for all within the government departments to steal as much as
possible as quickly as possible, just like before.

On
Thursday, June 28th 2018, Gonsalves speaking in parliament said he
has been in discussion both in CARICOM and OECS and would like
countries to fashion integrity legislation more particular across the
OECS where there are more significant similarities, and where the
integration is tighter.

In July
2018 Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, leader of the ULP Government
of St Vincent, told CARICOM that he wants to tackle integrity in
public life from a CARICOM standpoint. “I would like us to have a
model piece of legislation regionally to addresses matters in
relation to quote and quote Integrity legislation”.

Most who
have followed the situation in SVG will say Gonsalves spoke
untruthfully when he made such statements; that he has no intention
of introducing into law any integrity legislation. He dares to blame
the NDP when he told parliament that the opposition is not serious on
the issue and noted that an integrity commission was included in a
proposed new constitution which they rejected. “The new
constitution was far superior to what we have now, and there were no
downsides in term of democracy and transparency. However, an
opportunistic political position was taken by the opposition”.

So
Gonsalves claims that because the NDP and most Vincentians rejected
the new constitution, that is the reason we have no integrity
legislation today.

Yet when
you look at the elections, it is allegedly the ULP that is giving
away before each election twenty million dollars plus in building
materials in return for the recipients to vote ULP.

Corruption
is a complex phenomenon, often deeply rooted in the cultural and
political practices of societies. It has become so deep-rooted in
Saint Vincent that it will take international help to break the
cycle.

Although
the precise costs of corruption are hard to quantify and vary
significantly from country to country, research suggests that
corruption is bad for economic and social development (e.g.,
Rothstein 2011). Corruption has been shown to have a detrimental
effect on tax revenues (Pani 2010), investments and economic growth
(Mauro 1995, Del Monte & Papagni 2001), equality and poverty
(Chong & Calderon 2000, Gupta et al. 2002, You & Khagram
2005, Uslaner 2008), and overall subjective well-being and life
satisfaction (Tay et al. 2014). Moreover, corruption is said to erode
political trust and undermine political legitimacy in a variety of
institutional settings (Della Porta 2000, Seligson 2002, Andersen &
Tverdova 2003, Chang & Chu 2006).

In other
words, the backwardness of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines can be
directly attributed to the corruption brought not just to the ballot
box but many different branches of the ULP government.

Remember
all left-wing governments in the Americas and the Caribbean need to
create a peasant class to keep them in power. Poor ignorant people
who gladly accept bribery as the norm. But they often go hungry, no
work, massive crime, murders, children with drug habits. The result
will ultimately be a situation, just like Venezuela.

Saint
Vincent and the Grenadines already under the ULP have more people
than ever before receiving money from the poor fund. The ULP is proud
of that and brags that because there are more being paid from the
poor fund, they must be doing a better job. But the truth is more
peasants have been created under this government.

Time for a change, time for integrity and decency, time for the NDP.

END

IMAGES: Supplied by author

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