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EDITORIAL - Crooks, corruption and conflict of interest
published: Wednesday | January 17, 2007
Lester Crooks, the chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, has done the right thing. Eventually! He has resigned from the leadership of the local government authority and is now contemplating his future in the council as a divisional representative.
It is a pity that he didn't do the decent thing from the start - a failure that will only deepen the perception of public corruption in Jamaica, that was so graphically captured in our public opinion survey published on Sunday.
First, to be absolutely clear, this newspaper has no evidence that Mr. Crooks is, was or has ever been involved in any corrupt practice. Neither do we know that he has in any way broken any of the operating rules of the Hanover Parish Council.
But, as Mr. Crooks would be aware, and why he was prevailed upon by his party to resign, there is great truth in the statement that perception is often as good as reality. And what Mr. Crooks did certainly does not look good. He faced a clear conflict of interest, which he failed to reveal either to his council, his constituents or the central government.
For as we understand it, apart from his job as chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, Mr. Crooks operates a private trucking company, which has haulage contracts, directly or otherwise, with the Spanish Fiesta group for the hotel it is building in Lucea, the capital of Hanover.
Several months ago, Mr. Crooks was at the forefront of agitation for Fiesta to be granted its environmental permits for the hotel projects to go ahead. We assumed that he was only eager for development in his parish. Most people would have arrived at the same conclusion when this mayor of a poor Jamaican parish spearheaded efforts to give a rich foreign transnational company a 20 per cent discount (nearly J$11 million) on its construction permit fees. And perhaps that was his motivation.
Unfortunately, Mr. Crooks, who had conducted business with Fiesta on the public's behalf, only revealed his private and beneficial relationship with the company a week ago at a council meeting when it was already threatening to become an open affair and cause for discomfort.
This matter must be an embarrassment for Mr. Crooks' party, the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party, which, at the national level, has consistently attacked central government on the matter of corruption. There are subtle echoes of the Trafigura affair, where the Opposition revealed that a Dutch trading company, Trafigura Beheer, made secret donations to the ruling People's National Party, channelled to an account that was operated by the PNP's former General Secretary Colin Campbell.
As with Trafigura Beheer, there seems to us questions for Fiesta to answer, such as whether it was totally oblivious to the potential for conflicts of interest posed by its relationship with Mr. Crooks' company and if it operated within the Spanish and European Union (EU) laws for EU companies doing business abroad.
But this matter affects not only Fiesta, Mr. Crooks and the JLP. It is a stark reminder that Jamaicans believe that their public institutions are corrupt and the need for strong and moral leadership to effect a change. It is the kind of leadership promised by Prime Minister Simpson Miller, but whose delivery we still await.
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The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
published: Wednesday | January 17, 2007
Lester Crooks, the chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, has done the right thing. Eventually! He has resigned from the leadership of the local government authority and is now contemplating his future in the council as a divisional representative.
It is a pity that he didn't do the decent thing from the start - a failure that will only deepen the perception of public corruption in Jamaica, that was so graphically captured in our public opinion survey published on Sunday.
First, to be absolutely clear, this newspaper has no evidence that Mr. Crooks is, was or has ever been involved in any corrupt practice. Neither do we know that he has in any way broken any of the operating rules of the Hanover Parish Council.
But, as Mr. Crooks would be aware, and why he was prevailed upon by his party to resign, there is great truth in the statement that perception is often as good as reality. And what Mr. Crooks did certainly does not look good. He faced a clear conflict of interest, which he failed to reveal either to his council, his constituents or the central government.
For as we understand it, apart from his job as chairman of the Hanover Parish Council, Mr. Crooks operates a private trucking company, which has haulage contracts, directly or otherwise, with the Spanish Fiesta group for the hotel it is building in Lucea, the capital of Hanover.
Several months ago, Mr. Crooks was at the forefront of agitation for Fiesta to be granted its environmental permits for the hotel projects to go ahead. We assumed that he was only eager for development in his parish. Most people would have arrived at the same conclusion when this mayor of a poor Jamaican parish spearheaded efforts to give a rich foreign transnational company a 20 per cent discount (nearly J$11 million) on its construction permit fees. And perhaps that was his motivation.
Unfortunately, Mr. Crooks, who had conducted business with Fiesta on the public's behalf, only revealed his private and beneficial relationship with the company a week ago at a council meeting when it was already threatening to become an open affair and cause for discomfort.
This matter must be an embarrassment for Mr. Crooks' party, the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party, which, at the national level, has consistently attacked central government on the matter of corruption. There are subtle echoes of the Trafigura affair, where the Opposition revealed that a Dutch trading company, Trafigura Beheer, made secret donations to the ruling People's National Party, channelled to an account that was operated by the PNP's former General Secretary Colin Campbell.
As with Trafigura Beheer, there seems to us questions for Fiesta to answer, such as whether it was totally oblivious to the potential for conflicts of interest posed by its relationship with Mr. Crooks' company and if it operated within the Spanish and European Union (EU) laws for EU companies doing business abroad.
But this matter affects not only Fiesta, Mr. Crooks and the JLP. It is a stark reminder that Jamaicans believe that their public institutions are corrupt and the need for strong and moral leadership to effect a change. It is the kind of leadership promised by Prime Minister Simpson Miller, but whose delivery we still await.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Dennis Morrison </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Somehow, in a fairly small, open community, his neighbours were unsuspecting, as were his co-workers. Emboldened by the long period when his crime went undetected, he kidnapped another youngster recently, and it was in response to this case that the police eventually nabbed him.<P class=StoryText align=justify>While obviously joyful about the return of his son, the first boy's stepfather was moved to comment on the loss of community spirit in present-day America, and the lack of concern for the welfare of others. He was sure that this could not have happened were there a strong sense of community which used to be such an important feature of small-town life in America.<P class=StoryText align=justify>This is a view that is shared by many people in Jamaica w ho can still recall the civility of rural life in days gone by, and even in what are now considered inner-city communities like Jones Town, Rollington Town, Allman Town, and so on. As in America, criminals can commit the most dastardly acts with a high degree of confidence that either they will not be observed or their cover will not be blown.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Deep in the Jamaican psyche is a hostility to "informers", which was always an impediment to effective policing, but is now even more deeply embedded. In the old days, slaves were naturally suspicious of those among them who would "carry" news to the master and inform on others in their ranks. Remnants of this culture were carried forward to colonial times, and were manifested in ambivalence towards the security forces, even after Independence. Suspicion of and hostility towards the police grew. Providing information to the police was seen as an act of betrayal, and those guilty regarded as outcasts.<P class=StoryText align=justify>These days, informers are punished by sudden death in communities overtaken by extortionists and drug dons. Dons rule by the gun and have as their publicists popular artistes who inveigh against informers. In the nihilistic lyrics of these artistes, the security forces and people who cooperate with them are portrayed as the enemy and are to be wiped out. Isn't it frightening, the extent to which dancehall music extols the virtues of criminality, and derides law-abiding behaviour? Should we be really surprised that life has no value for people fed on such a diet?<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=130 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>SIMPSON MILLER... Encouragement is to be taken from success stories pointed out by her at last Saturday's awards function for volunteers in several innercity community initiatives. </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>It is generally agreed that a major contributory factor to the high crime rate in Jamaica is the low risk of criminals being caught and punished. They can commit the most brutal acts, confide
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Michael Burke</SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>As you might know, many high schools now have a policeman assigned to them. One policeman so assigned and I were in conversation recently. He told me that after school one day, he was in a social discussion with some of the teachers, perhaps in the staffroom after the last class. The teachers were complaining about the corruption in the force and spoke of what policemen had done to them individually or to members of their families.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The policeman responded by saying that corruption is everywhere. And while he agreed that the existence of corruption everywhere does not excuse corruption in the police force, he pointed to corruption in the teaching profession. He spoke of teachers who are deliberately absent from classes so that when students fall behind they can charge them for extra lessons. "What's wrong with that?" the teachers loudly asked.<P class=StoryText align=justify>We love to point fingers in some direction other than at ourselves. Everything is wrong with teachers who deliberately make students fall behind so that they can charge them for extra lessons. I have written several times in the past that if teachers need extra money - and they do - there are other ways of going about it.<P class=StoryText align=justify>For example, every school could become a day-care centre in July when schools are closed for the summer. All kinds of outings can be planned, and the fees can be shared up among teachers. But some teachers find it much easier to be lazy during class time so that they can charge the parents of students for extra lessons.<P class=StoryText align=justify>And I would like to tell everyone to be careful of the friends you keep. But when you do wrong things you cannot be too careful. At garages, gas stations, barbershops supermarkets and wherever else people meet, they talk of going into friends' homes and seeing towels in their bathrooms with the imprint of hotels for all to see. And their friends "come a road and talk it" because I have heard it.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But my point of course is the corruption. And some will ask "So what?" if they take a few towels, sheets and even lanterns and tables from hotel rooms. As to the things that people take home from offices, I will not go there. But one thing is clear. It is stealing. Unfortunately, it is so endemic that it is not likely to stop in the near future.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But the hypocrisy of it all is the way some people speak as if they are squeaky clean. It reminds me of the "worldlians" who commit every type of sin, but are ready to quote the Bible to condemn homosexuality. The Bible equally condemns many other serious sins. But worse, as I have written before, the sin of homosexuality is in just about every church, but sections of the international media have picked the Roman Catholic Church to focus on.
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