The corruption factor

One of the scourges of any form of governance is corruption.
It can occur because those who are entrusted by their peers with managing the affairs of any country are also in charge of its assets.
There is therefore a blatant injustice to country and citizens whenever those elected to govern engage in corrupt dealings, siphoning off benefits for themselves and their friends merely because they hold key positions and may have some temporary control of the public wealth.
The Prevention of Corruption Bill 2010, which was debated in Parliament on Tuesday last, is designed to deal with this evil and to replace the old 1936 legislation which is outdated and does not speak to modern trends in anti-corruption laws.
That it has been referred to a select committee should not discourage those who are proponents and supporters of the bill, for hasty and imperfect consideration of the proposed law may result in unworkable rules which would be worse than having no legislation at all.  
We may draw on the experience of our sister island Trinidad and Tobago in fine-tuning this legislation. In that twin-island state some otherwise qualified citizens have been reluctant to serve simply because they are unhappy with the degree of disclosure they would have to make.     
The new bill should therefore receive the mature scrutiny and consideration of the members of the committee, and we hope that the problem areas will be identified and resolved.
Even the most ardent supporter of the bill must wonder if it is really necessary for children under 18 years to have their assets disclosed, if their parent happens to be a Member of Parliament, or a trade union leader, or a public official as defined in the bill.
So that a bill of this sort is likely to dissuade some patriotic citizens from accepting the call to serve, because as it is presently drafted it captures politicians and other public officials, including members of statutory boards.
And yet there must be modern legislation, for daily experience shows that even the most exalted of public institutions may sometimes be vulnerable to corruptive influences. One of the surprising disclosures in the News Of The World scandal now enveloping Britain is the news that payments were made to police officers in exchange for information on British citizens that might be newsworthy.
We are acutely conscious that another anti-corruption bill was debated in our Parliament some 30 years ago, but never made it to the law books, after controversial debate concerning the disclosure provisions.
Times have changed, and the need for this legislation is to proactively ensure that the public interest is protected even if the present indicators suggest this island is one of the least corrupt in the region.
Indeed, it is to our credit that Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index ranks us 17th out of 178 countries and ahead of everyone else in this region; and of Latin America, Britain and the United States.  
Yet we fully agree with the learned Attorney General that we cannot rest on our laurels. Corruption can have the corrosive effect of retarding the development of a country; and while all past administrations have made positive contributions through socially desirable legislation and other decisions, the absence of all but minimal corruption has also benefited this country.
All right-thinking Barbadians should support the broad principles of the legislation, since it will enhance nation-building. By the same token, responsible public debate should help to inform the final shape of this piece of legislation which is long overdue.