We make no judgement about Joseph Hibbert. Indeed, it may be, as his lawyer Ernie Smith suggests, that it will be the case that there is no impropriety involving his client and that the contractor general, Greg Christie, has gone off on a wild goose chase.

Or, perhaps it is, as Mr Smith puts it, that Mr Christie is being "very irresponsible" having failed to verify the facts before issuing a public announcement that he has launched a probe into Mr Hibbert's conduct between 1993 and 2003 when he was chief technical officer in the Ministry of Transport and Works.

Should Mr Smith's assertion hold true, Mr Christie's probe will find that rather than being involved in any kickbacks with regard to the supply of bridges to Jamaica by the British engineering firm Mabey and Johnson, Mr Hibbert was the victim of unscrupulous employees who defrauded the overseas firm and used Mr Hibbert's name to facilitate their scam. That case is being investigated by Britain's Serious Fraud Office, on whose request Jamaican police searched Mr Hibbert's home last month.

Significant influence

Yet, as innocent as Mr Hibbert may be - to the point that he has received support from Prime Minister Bruce Golding and the Jamaica Labour Party - he is not some private official against whom an unfortunate allegation has been made. Nor is he one of the ruling party's legislators occupying the backbenches of Parliament.

Mr Hibbert is a junior minister in the Government of Jamaica and, as such, a person of significant influence and power. It is not unreasonable to expect that some people, not least among them Mr Hibbert's political opponents, will argue that he might seek to extricate himself from a sticky situation. He ought not to be subject to such a burden.

But, there is a broader moral principle relating to the conduct of public affairs which is at play here and which used to be so eloquently articulated by Prime Minister Golding.

Public confidence

Not only has Mr Golding declared his antipathy to corruption in any form and pledged his commitment to battling it in public life in Jamaica, he has been insistent on the need to run his government in a fashion that inspires public confidence. Indeed, it used to be his maxim that justice must not only be delivered, but must manifestly be seen to have been. Or, put another way, Mr Golding built confidence in Jamaicans that a government run by him would be operated at a higher moral bar than that to which the country had been accustomed.

In that regard, to be seen as doing the right and decent thing, it is assumed, is important to Mr Golding. In the instant case, the right and decent thing, we believe, is for Mr Hibbert to take leave of absence from his job as a junior minister in the Government, which would not affect his position as a member of parliament.

Taking this course does not presume any guilt on Mr Hibbert's part, but rather provides an environment within which the investigation can unfold without his immediate presence on the job being deemed to carry undue influence. But more important, it would be the symbolic declaration of trust and accountability.

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