Dennis Gordon, People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the Maxfield Park Division, says the country’s position on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has worsened significantly under the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration.

Gordon was one of three PNP candidates who went up against the JLP’s Venesha Phillips, Charles Sinclair and Richard Creary at the Local Government Debates on Thursday (February 15).

The other PNP candidates were Natalie Neita-Garvey and Allan Bernard, PNP councillor-candidate for Montego Bay North East.

“If you look at the corruption index, it has skyrocketed under the JLP, so let us address that. Seven and a half years to date – not one internal audit report; seven and a half years to date – no internal audit has been done. How can then talk about the corruption,” Gordon said.

Gordon’s assertions came as a clapback to arguments put forward by Richard Creary that funds are accountable for under the JLP compared to the PNP.

“The funds that are available from the taxpayers of Jamaica under the Jamaica Labour Party we are accountable in respect to all those funds, whether through members of parliament, (or) whether through what comes to the municipal corporations directly. We are accountable. We have shown to the Jamaican people (that) unlike the PNP, where in Manchester at (the) Manchester Municipal Corporation over $400 million has been missing and the PNP, up to today, has not accounted for those funds.

The deputy mayor had to resign, over in Hanover the accountability in relation to their funds, had issues. The mayor had to resign, no JLP-led municipal corporation has found itself in that situation. The funds come, the funds go where it is needed, to people, fixing roads, doing drain cleaning, doing things in the service of Jamaicans,” Creary argued.

However, Gordon countered that the Manchester Municipal Corporation, under the PNP administration, had commissioned an audit at the time, a measure he said has not been done by the JLP.

“The JLP municipality has not order and commission any audit. The Manchester Municipal Corporation, under the leadership of a PNP ordered that audit, what was the findings of the audit. Four civil servants went to jail not one member of the PNP was mired in any controversy to those,” Gordon argued.

Jamaica’s ranking on the 2023 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) has remained unchanged for a second year, with a ranking of 69 out of 180 countries.

Jamaica is among the list of countries that scored below 50, with the country managing to secure a score of 44. The CPI ranks 180 countries and territories around the globe by their perceived levels of public-sector corruption, scoring on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean).