#BTColumn – Eradicating corruption

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by Sean St. Clair Fields

Around this time last election, I was working assiduously on the campaign trail to ensure that a friend would be elected. This time around, I have opted to offer my two cents worth to my fellow voters through a series of contributions entitled Hard Choices in hopes that consideration may be given to some of the critical issues we now face and the hard choices that will confront us as we go forward.

I imagine my motives may be questioned by those who don’t know me, but those who do know that I am an advocate for fairness and justice. I call it as I see it, and although the repercussions for tabling my opinions have been severe at times, my hunger for transparency and accountability is so insatiable that despite the risk, I continue to share my opinions.

In the coming days leading up to the election, there will be a lot of “noise” as candidates and political parties flood the airways with their respective campaign messages. It is likely to be so noisy that most of us who are interested will find it challenging to effectively discern what is important and what isn’t. As such, I will attempt to address as many of the critical issues during this period as I can.

first issue I would like to comment on is “Corruption”.
What is corruption? As you ponder on the question, let me share an excerpt from a paper that I wrote a while back. Paul, S. (1997) proffered in a publication entitled “Corruption: who will bell the cat?” which was featured on pgs. 1350-1355 in the Economic and Political Weekly Magazine, that there are four types of corruption.

1. Collusive corruption usually involves the willing and planned cooperation between the giver and the receiver.

2. Extortionary corruption implies that there is forced extraction of favours from vulnerable victims by those in authority.

3. Anticipatory corruption occurs where a gift is used in anticipation of favourable actions or decisions from those in authority.

4. Retail corruption, which is less glamorous, often occurs in situations where citizens try to access essential services that are provided by the government.

Have you ever encountered any one or more of these types of corruption in your interactions with the public sector? It is interesting to note, though, that notwithstanding the varying types of corruption as described, that several authors argue that corruptive practices in public sector operations are extremely difficult to prove.

I think Chanakya, the famous Indian Teacher, Philosopher and Royal Advisor captured it best when he said: “Just as it is impossible to know when a fish moving in water is drinking it, so too it is impossible to find out when public servants in charge of undertakings are misappropriating money.” (www.brainyquote.com).

So… If there is any truth in the assertion that corruption is difficult to unearth, then I shall like to table the following questions. Are we willing as a people or would we even consider spending BDS$5 million on a forensic audit to determine if BDS$50, 000 was misappropriated? And if the misappropriation has been proven, would we demand, would we strike, would we march to ensure that the authorities hold to account the person (s) responsible and that they be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, notwithstanding their political connections or standing in the society? I submit that in a society like ours, we may find these choices particularly hard especially when we consider what Dr Joan Nwaskie said in her article entitled

Political Transitions and Torn Loyalties: “In small states where government and politics tend to influence every aspect of daily life, it may not be practical for public sector workers to separate their service from their political allegiance.”

It is interesting that as reported on pg. 12 of the Barbados TODAY December 20, 2021 edition, Deputy President of the Senate during the debate of the Whistleblower Protection Bill 2021 encouraged Barbadians to speak out, noting that laws were being put in place to protect them.

Yet, in his continued submissions, he warned whistleblowers to exercise caution despite the protection the legislation would offer and insisted that “while we have the right to report on improper conduct, we need to be discreet about it.”

His statements seem to inform us, if not remind us, of the type of society we live in. But the article that appeared on the back page of the May 13, 2015 edition of Barbados TODAY, where a prominent banker warned Barbados that it was time for change, seems to articulate the need for us to stamp out corruptive practices as a matter of urgency.

Ronald Harford, retired chairman of Republic Financial Holdings Limited, posited that Barbados was desperately in need of constitutional and public sector reform. He called on citizens to hold the government and the public sector agencies to account.

I aver that corruption, whether real or perceived, is like a cancer that erodes trust in our institutions and it is incumbent on us to demand that the next government put the necessary instruments in place and provide the necessary resources to eradicate this scourge.

We need fully resourced offices of the Auditor General and the Contractor General buttressed by legislation that gives them the power to escalate acts of misappropriation to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

We need more than just empty political grandstanding.
We need timelines for implementation so that we can hold the government to said timelines. What have we

seen during the last two administrations? Promises that have not been kept. Auditor-General Report after Auditor-General report and the promises that persons will be held to account. Has anyone been brought before the law courts (in Barbados)? Has the office of the Auditor-General been provided with the resources it needs to be an effective watchdog of the public purse? Where is the promised “Contractor General” whose job it is to ensure that government contracts are transparently distributed, fairly across all eligible businesses while maintaining the public’s interest? And just in case the excuse is COVID-19, we should reject such notions as bolstering our watchdog agencies could have been done long before the pandemic started to affect us.

In truth, if those watchdog agencies were fully resourced, how much money do you think we could have saved or how much money could have been properly allocated to where it was needed most? There is little doubt, my friends, that transparency and accountability are essential to tackling corruption of any kind.

The substantive questions or the “Hard Choices” are what are we prepared to do about it and who should we vote for, if indeed we want to eradicate corruption from our landscape?

This article was submitted as a Letter to the Editor.