Judging from his public persona, Greg Christie is perhaps not the person too many people, given the choice, would pick as a friend.

He seems to love a scrap, thrives on it even, and is argumentative to the point of being petty. But, oh, how we would love to clone Greg Christie, with his flaws even, which appear to include an occasional over-eagerness to the draw.

The cloned Mr Christie would then be dispatched to the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (CPC) to stir things up a bit. You see, Greg Christie, the contractor general, believes in something and is passionate about it.

Which is not to suggest that the members of the CPC are not serious about fighting corruption, or that they have not made attempts to get government action to support and strengthen their effort. For they have, as their chairman, the retired judge, Mr Chester Orr, pointed out in a recent letter to this newspaper.

Competing interests

Unfortunately, the CPC has not captured the public's imagination, nor have its commissioners been able to navigate the clutter of the mass media to have their issues heard above the din of competing interests. At least, they have not demonstrated Mr Christie's skill and aptitude for the medium/message game, which is perhaps a commentary of Mr Christie's closer proximity to the age - a child of McLuhan.

So, the annual reports of the CPC remain buried in files at the justice ministry and its recommendations for the improvement of the legislation under which the commission operates remain stuck in some sleepy joint select committee of the legislature.

In the meantime, an increasing number of public servants fail to follow the rules for filing declarations of assets and liabilities. For instance, in 2003, the first year when public servants who earn over $2 million a year were supposed to file their declarations, just under 15,000 people were covered. About 15 per cent did not comply. In 2006, when the expected number of filers had fallen to under 14,000, the non-compliance rate was nearly 40 per cent.

"The commission wishes to highlight the continued tardiness on the part of public servants to impose a penalty for late filing of the statutory declaration," the CPC said in its report for 2006. It wanted the law amended to give the commission powers to impose its own penalties for late filings.

Funding provided

Up to that point, the CPC had reported 453 public servants to various commissions and heads of departments and agencies for their failure at compliance. Two delinquents were prosecuted by the DPP. In great quietude, it seems.

Since then, the commission has been allowed funding for staff to probe suspected cases of corruption, or just to randomly follow up on filings. And other reports have gone or are going to the relevant ministers.

Good recommendations, we fear, will gather dust and grow cobweb. And, in the face of the CPC's complaint about "lax civil-service procedures (and) poor or non-existent financial information and documentation", the public will not know who the errant public servants are and Jamaica's reputation for corruption will worsen.

A serious review of the legislation, as perceived by the act, is overdue. Among its changes must be the qualification for membership of the commission.

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.