LONDON, England – (JIS)Prime Minister Bruce Golding of Jamaica has once again vowed to tackle corruption in public life.
Speaking at the Kensington Town Hall in London on May 20 at a community meeting, Mr. Golding said he was passionately committed to this crusade.
“We have set our sights firmly on an aggressive program to tackle corruption in public life and I make no apology when I say that this is a crusade that I am not going to flinch from. I am passionately committed. I have said to my own members, because I am not naive, because dishonesty is not something that parks itself on any one side of the political fence.you know my stance on this matter, if any of you make the mistake and do what you are not supposed to do, don’t call me, call a lawyer, because I can’t help you,” the Prime Minister stressed.
Mr. Golding said that a Corruption Prevention Act was introduced to Parliament two weeks ago with a new Corruption Prevention Commission with stronger powers.
In addition, a Special Prosecutor will also be appointed.
“The Special Prosecutor’s sole responsibility is to investigate and prosecute anybody who is engaged in corrupt practices, to bring them to justice. He is going to be able to operate based on any information he gets. He will have wide powers,” the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Golding said the legitimacy of government or any constituted authority of governance would be brought into question if the people do not have confidence in the integrity of those arrangements.
“If you are someone who hold public office, if you are someone who sought public trust, and in whom the people invested that public trust and you betray that public trust, you must be punished,” he argued.
The Prime Minister also noted that a Bill has been introduced to Parliament to create an independent investigative authority to investigate any and all cases involving actions by any member of the security forces that result in death or injury to any citizen in Jamaica.
“We have some bad cases in Jamaica. I know that the police have a tough job as there are some vicious criminals out there, but as bad as that is, the practice of using this as an excuse to just go in and spray bullets all over the place … we are not going to fight crime like that, not under my leadership,” he said.
Mr. Golding said it is anticipated that the law in relation to the independent authority would be in place for September.
“It will immediately take responsibility, so that wherever there is any instance in which there is this kind of abuse of power by the security forces they (the authority) will be obliged to investigate the matter and where charges are to be laid and sanctions need to be imposed, that will follow as a natural consequence,” he explained.
He added that a Bill to establish a Special Coroner was also in place. “We have introduce in Parliament a Bill to establish a special coroner to deal with those cases where persons die at the hands of the state, be it the police force or member of the correctional services, because our record on that is not good. We have cases awaiting a coroner’s inquest for six years and therefore we are establishing a special coroner who will have jurisdiction over the entire island,” the Prime Minister said.
The community meeting was the first of four to be addressed by the Prime Minister across the United Kingdom (UK) on his first official visit as Prime Minister. Mr. Golding returns to Jamaica on May 25.
