MUNROE... an increasing number of Jamaicans were willing to tell on others

JAMAICA has slipped one place on Transparency International's (TI) corruption rankings, but, in the meantime, the number of whistleblowers has grown six-fold, says anti-corruption activist Professor Trevor Munroe.

“Whereas in 2020 we had very few whistleblowers, this multiplied six-fold in 2021,” Dr Munroe told a virtual press briefing hosted by his National Integrity Action (NIA) in Kingston, Tuesday.

However, as he suggested, while an increasing number of Jamaicans were willing to tell on others, the country slipped from 69 in 2020 to 70 in 2021 with a score of 44, although it remained fifth among regional countries which had fallen behind in terms of reducing corrupt practices in both its public and private sector.

The Protected Disclosures (Whistle Blower) Act, 2011, encourages disclosures regarding improper conduct in the interest of the public. Transparency International is a global coalition of some 180 countries against corruption

The new 2021 rankings released by TI on Monday showed that Jamaica held firm in the corruption perception index (CPI) with a score 44 in a system ranging from a high performance of “zero” to low of 100 and ranked the island at 70th out of 180 moving from 69th in the 2020 rankings.

Jamaica also remained the fifth most corrupt country in the Caribbean behind Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados was ranked as the least corrupt in...

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