Above: Kingston (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The “spectre of corruption” is the single issue sapping public confidence in Jamaica’s government, according to Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips.

The Finance Minister, who was speaking at a conference on the Westminster system of government last week, said public perception of corruption continues to “mar the political process in Jamaica.”

That’s despite the passage of “various pieces of legislation and strengthening of extensive requirements for the reporting of incomes by public officials,” Phillips said.

“There is perhaps no single issue, which saps public confidence in government than this spectre of corruption and which impedes our capacity for collective action,” he said.

Part of the effort to combat the problem would be the “speedy passage” of legislation to create a single anti-corruption agency in Jamaica, Phillips said.

He said that the creation of a body with “requisite powers of investigation and prosecution would ensure even greater transparency and accountability among public officials and result in a reduction in corrupt practices in government.”