The National Integrity Action Forum (NIAF) held its first Outreach Meeting at the Mona Campus of The University of the West Indies on Wednesday, March 4, 2009.  The meeting engaged in dialogue selected newspaper columnists, talk-show hosts, television presenters and other ‘opinion shapers’ around recommendations to more effectively combat corruption and to strengthen Jamaica’s integrity framework.

Addressing the first session of the Meeting, National Integrity Action Forum Director, Professor Trevor Munroe, reemphasized the exceptional importance, particularly in this time of deepening crisis, of ensuring that the corrupt do not siphon off scarce resources intended to help relieve the burden on the poor and do not further undermine the rule of law in the society.

Having received greetings from Mr. Bert Laurent, the Director of the USAID – Comet, collaborators with The UWI’s Centre for Leadership and Governance in the National Integrity Action Forum, participants broke up into workshops, reconvening thereafter in a plenary.  Among recommendations advanced were that ‘opinion shapers’ present:

1)    Help clean up corruption within the media itself, particular in relation to ‘payola’;

2)    Provide support to, and require accountability from, the main officers involved in combating corruption, in particular, the Contractor General, the Commissioner of Customs, the Assistant Commissioner – Anti-Corruption Branch Jamaica Constabulary Force, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the anti-corruption commissions and the Auditor General amongst others;

3)    Support a multi-dimensional engagement (e.g. media campaign, school curriculum reform) of the society on the meaning of corruption and on the extent to which the poor are the ones who bear the main costs of corruption;

4)    Support speedy bringing to justice of the ‘big fish’ amongst the corrupt in the interest of restoring public confidence in the rule of law and in improving Jamaica’s rankings on global corruption ratings (e.g. the Corruption Perception Index);

5)    Encourage The University of the West Indies’ Centre for Leadership and Governance to create a website and become a focal point for anti-corruption interests in Jamaica.

In the second segment of the programme, a two-way dialogue between the “opinion shapers” and Assistant Commissioner Justin Felice and Customs Commissioner Danville Walker produced enhanced understanding of the challenges facing these offices and the important role which the media can play in meeting these challenges.

Taking the meeting’s conclusions into account, the National Integrity Action Forum Director committed to continue consultations with Action Forum Participants and to convene the next outreach meeting in mid April 2009.

The National Integrity Action Forum (NIAF) was launched on January 28,   and has been endorsed by both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. The NIAF is an initiative of The UWI’s Centre for Leadership and Governance, a collaboration of the Department of Government and the Mona School of Business.