Testing governance

The first test of good governance is good politics. The second is good governance itself. The World Bank tells us that good politics is the underlying factor behind good governance. It said, "Ultimately, better governance requires political renewal. This means a concerted attack on corruption from the highest to lowest level. This can be done by setting a good example, by strengthening accountability, by encouraging public debate, and by nurturing a free press. It also means fostering grassroots and non-governmental organisations such as farmers' associations, cooperatives, and women's groups."

If you tolerate dons, reject campaign finance disclosure laws, buy elections, promise the moon and do not prepare yourself for government, then you are practising bad politics. You would have encouraged habits and practises that cause you to practice bad governance.

The World Bank also gives an idea of what it means by good and bad governance. It says, "Good governance is epitomised by predictable, open and enlightened policy making, a bureaucracy imbued with a professional ethos acting in furtherance of the public good, the rule of law, transparent processes and a strong civil society participating in public affairs. Poor governance (on the other hand) is characterised by arbitrary policy making, unaccountable bureaucracies, unenforced or unjust legal systems, the abuse of executive power, a civil society unengaged in public life and widespread corruption."

The Coke issue alone exposes much of what the World Bank has diagnosed as bad governance. The political connections we take into government can corrode governance institutions. Take this example. Tom Tavares-Finson is a government-appointed senator. He is a member of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP). He is one of the Government's representatives on the Election Commission. He is the lawyer for Christopher Coke. Coke is wanted by the United States to answer charges of drug and gunrunning. He and his organisation are powerful and we can reasonably assume provide finances to the campaign of the JLP. But neither Tavares-Finson nor his party seems to believe in automatic public individual disclosure of private sources of money contributed to political campaigns.

The April 30 issue of AM Law (American Law) Daily, quoted Tavares-Finson's response about where the money came from to pay Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP). He said, "Whoever gave Brady that money to retain Manatt, that's their business. Even if it was Coke, who is subject to an extradition request by the United States, so what?"

So what? This dismissive attitude makes you wonder if Tavares-Finson has the moral authority to remain a member of the Electoral Commission. How can we have responsible and transparent campaign laws with an attitude to possibly tainted money so cavalierly expressed as this was?

The World Bank says a weak civil society is not helpful to good governance. You wonder about the silence of the legal fraternity on Tavares-Finson's attitude on this, and on the Coke affair in general. Readers of the AM Law Daily must wonder about the attitude to law and order by Jamaica's legal fraternity, society and government.

Dysfunctional Government

Karl Samuda's statement on the Brady, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips affair exposes more about how bad politics leads to bad and dysfunctional governance.

The Observer editorial of April 30 intimated that the Government was not open, transparent and honest. It agreed with Peter Phillips that the Government was trying to confuse the public over the facts. It said cleanliness and truth did not seem to be the Government's priorities now and wonders, "Were they ever?"

The Government's self-inflicted bad press makes it want to insert pro-government stories into regular radio and TV news broadcasts so that the public does not know which news is government news and which is independent. This is another example of what the Observer might call "a determined attempt to confuse the people of Jamaica". At least the Media Association of Jamaica (MAJ) is fighting Government for its right to report the news independently.

As to the independence of the courts, we know that the Government has refused to hand over the extradition case to the court as the treaty and the constitution require. Then, under pressure, it asked the court to advise it if it should. But the same Observer editorial calls this "a blatant abuse of the court's process".

Administration of justice

The corrosion of governance goes deeper.

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller was precise in saying that the interconnected Coke, Brady and MPP affair "is directly related to issues of governance, in particular, foreign affairs and relations, the administration of justice and the separation of government and party".

The People's National Party (PNP) has asked that the minister of justice and attorney general resign. It said that the minister of foreign affairs, who is also deputy prime minister, is implicated through his "apparent authority", evident by his junior minister's interaction with MPP. At any rate, the minister has been suspiciously silent on a matter in which Jamaica's international reputation is being badly and continuously hit. The minister of security is similarly mute, even though we have passed 550 murders since January. The PNP thinks there is a connection between the apparent protection of an alleged criminal and the free-wheeling crime spree.

The combined ineffectiveness of both ministers - of foreign affairs and security - is reflected in an international security notification on Jamaica issued on May 3, which read: "An increase in tensions between gangs in Kingston has led to several bouts of violence in the Grants Pen area. In addition, in recent days, at least two incidents occurred where international personnel were the target of an attack. In one case, there was an attempted assault on a vehicle carrying a World Bank staff dependent who was leaving the university area.

"In the second case, the spouse of a UK embassy officer narrowly avoided a robbery when she noticed a male aggressively driving a motorbike behind her and making several attempts to stop her by overtaking her car closely on both sides."

Other ministers seem dysfunctional, too. The minister of finance could have asked the Financial Investigation Division (FID) to probe the mysterious payment to MPP to determine if any money laundering or any other law had been broken. Probably the Election Commission could ask the FID to investigate contributions to election campaigns under the FID's mandate to "investigate money laundering, financial crimes and corruption".

CIVIL SOCIETY

The Opposition apart, civil society could theoretically test governance through a number of institutions to see what processes are being corrupted and corroded. These institutions include the Electoral Commission, the courts, the FID, the General Legal Council, the MAJ, the Public Service Commission, the police, among others. Foreign sources, such as newspapers, the US State Department and the US Justice Department have done the bulk of the reporting and investigation of these Coke-related issues.

Our civil society organisations, newspapers aside, are largely quiet. We hope the public bodies and professional associations are not compromised by politics and an overbearing executive.

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona Campus. Email: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm or columns@gleanerjm.com.

The People's National Party (PNP) has asked that the minister of justice and attorney general resign. It said that the minister of foreign affairs, who is also deputy prime minister, is implicated through his "apparent authority", evident by his junior minister's interaction with MPP.