Jamaica ‘treading water’, says anti-corruption watchdog
Score unchanged, but country slips three places in CPI rankings
Published:Monday | February 17, 2025 | 9:59 AMEdmond Campbell/Senior Staff Reporter
While Jamaica remains stagnant at 44 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for 2024, making it the third most corrupt country in the English-speaking Caribbean, at least four territories in the region have registered improvements in their scores.
Danielle Archer, principal director of the National Integrity Action (NIA), who spoke at Tuesday’s launch of the latest CPI results at The University of the West Indies, Mona, urged Jamaicans to actively participate in the fight against corruption.
“We cannot expect [that] the Government is going to strengthen the anti-corruption framework without social pressure. This means, therefore, that every single Jamaican will have to take responsibility for their own acts of corruption,” Archer emphasised.
She shared that the NIA had received the endorsement of the private sector in conducting an anti-bribery campaign across the country.
“Our anti-corruption framework will not get any stronger until we, the people, decide that we need a change and be part of that change,” she said.
In its annual assessment of the levels of perceived corruption among countries across the globe, Transparency International also noted that Jamaica had dropped three spots, now ranking 73rd out of 180 countries.
“Jamaica continues to mark time or tread water,” said Archer, adding that the country’s score of 44 had remained unchanged for years without any meaningful action to improve it.
“Have we strengthened our anti-corruption framework or have we sought to dismantle it?” Archer questioned.
She warned against any steps to weaken the anti-corruption framework, noting that this would lead to a decline in the country’s CPI score.
This year’s CPI report focuses on the intersection of corruption and the climate crisis. Archer pointed to several local environmental concerns, including illegal logging in the Cockpit Country, improper waste disposal in rivers, “manipulated, falsified or ignored environmental impact agreements, unlawful developments, and a blatant refusal to enforce environmental law”.
She noted that countries with stronger environmental protections tend to have stronger CPI scores.
In the broader regional context, Barbados remained the top scorer in the English-speaking Caribbean, despite a slight decline of one point, with a score of 68. The Bahamas followed with a score of 65, while St Vincent and the Grenadines improved by three points to reach a score of 63. Dominica also saw a significant improvement, increasing by four points to score 60, same as St Lucia, which improved to 59. Grenada had a three-point increase to 56. Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago (41) and Guyana (39) were ranked as the most corrupt countries in the region.
Shazeeda Ali, dean of the Faculty of Law, acknowledged that corruption has long been a major obstacle to Jamaica’s development. She pointed out that relying solely on data regarding successful prosecutions or convictions for corruption might mislead many into thinking corruption is not widespread in Jamaica.
“That is because of the difficulty in obtaining information and evidence to adequately investigate, prosecute and convict those involved in acts of corruption,” Ali said.
She cautioned that if corruption continues to be embedded in the fabric of Jamaican society, it would represent a threat to the achievement of the UN sustainable development goals.
Trevor Munroe, former principal director of the NIA, said the global and regional levels of corruption remain unacceptably high. He said 120 of the 180 countries assessed by CPI have a score of 50 or below on a scale where zero represents most corrupt and 100 means highest levels of integrity. The global average is 43, with 56 countries falling below that score.
TI’s 2024 English-speaking Caribbean CPI Country Rankings
Rank (out of 180) Country Score (out of 100)
23 Barbados 68
28 Bahamas 65
32 St Vincent and the Grenadines 63
36 Dominica 60
38 St Lucia 59
46 Grenada 56
73 Jamaica 44
82 Trinidad and Tobago 41
92 Guyana 39