The growing number of scandals emanating from state-run Jamaican agencies continue to be unearthed on what seems like a weekly basis.

Accountability and compliance appear to be abandoned for licentious and unadulterated pillaging and questionable use of state funds.

Though embarrassing for the present Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government, one senses an ambivalence to forthrightly put things right and censure bad actors.

MISTRUST OF POLITICIANS

Too many ‘favoured’ state appointees are allowed to run amok, with sticky fingers caught in the cookie jar and the Government reluctant to wrap them over their knuckles to send the message -this will not be tolerated.

Jamaicans now more than ever have a mistrust of politicians, seeing them as self-serving, beguiling crooks, who enrich themselves at the expense of the country. The instances in recent times are too many to list here.

This pungent larceny and pilferage is all the graver, given the need for leadership at a time when the country and the world is besieged by a deadly pandemic. There is a need for faith and trust in those we have chosen as leaders to competently guide us through these turbulent times.

It makes the task of leadership all the more arduous if those in vaunted positions are dubious characters whose actions are questionable, immoral and criminal. How then can they tell citizens to comply with protocols and measures?

In Jamaica, a lot of stock is placed in high academic achievement and accomplishments. Invariably this provides entrée into securing prized state-agency appointments.

But looking at the more recent scandals that have come to light, many of the more notable perpetrators and those complicit have the title “Doctor” before their names, whether that be honorific or not.

These are people who are supposed to be the brightest and the best in Jamaica but turn out to be scoundrels, rapscallions and blaggards operating under the cover of respectability to commit dastardly acts against the country in contravention of well established practices and edicts.

TWO JAMAICAS

The citizen who fails to comply with COVID protocols will face onerous fines, yet the boss with the title ‘Dr’ in his or her name can commit heinous acts and get away with it, and even continue to get paid in some cases.

This reduces the effectiveness of governance and makes it clear for all to see that there are two Jamaicas with the disparity lending credence to the assessment that Jamaica is a banana republic where cronyism, corruption criminality in state-run institutions by elites bearing the title ‘Dr’ are the order of the day.

What occurred at Petrojam was a disgrace and those tasked with the responsibility of running the state-run energy agency failed miserably.

The Ministry of Education has seen embarrassing cases of skullduggery and breaches of fiduciary responsibility.

Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis has recently brought to Jamaica’s attention the loss of J$124 million at the Joint Committee on Tertiary Education (JCTE). What was uncovered warrants a thorough investigation and those who ought to know better should have done better.

Back in 2018, the Ministry of Education vociferously declared that allegations of fraud and nepotism at Nutrition Products Limited were baseless.

As we now discover, at that state body with its mission statement reading, ‘To produce and distribute a nutritious meal top designated school children at the lowest possible cost, utilising local resources whenever possible’, many breaches of the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act took place.

MISUSE OF PUBLIC FUNDS

The Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency’s (MOCA) investigations revealed that public funds were siphoned off by way of a number of schemes involving the Ministry of Education and the Caribbean Maritime University (CMU).

Again, this case surrounds the misuse of public funds warranting criminal investigation.

Time and time again, the flagrant disregard for fiduciary responsibility by eminent personages displays poor governance in Jamaican state-run institutions.

Looking at the aforementioned cases there is a common theme – somewhere along the line, there was someone in authority with the title ‘Dr’ involved who may have had their hand in the cookie jar or enabled those under their charge to put their sticky fingers in it.