Former Chief Justice of Barbados and Chairman of the Turks and Caicos Integrity Commission, Sir David Simmons, addressing the Integrity Group Barbados on Wednesday night, entitled: ‘Corruption, Cost, Consequences & Remedies’.
THERE is a need for separate legislation to deal specifically with campaign financing in Barbados.
This is the view of Sir David Simmons, former Chief Justice of Barbados who says the current four paragraphs in the Prevention of Corruption Bill, which has not yet been proclaimed, is a “joke”.
Sir David, Chairman of the Integrity Commission in Turks & Caicos (TCI) was one of the featured speakers at a discussion hosted by the Integrity Group Barbados on Wednesday night, entitled: Corruption, Cost, Consequences & Remedies. Also on hand was Kenneth Gordon who gave his experience as the former chairman of the Integrity Commission of Trinidad & Tobago and social commentator Adrian Green.
The former Chief Justice of Barbados, while conceding that TCI with a population of approximately 40 000 is considerably smaller than Barbados, said comprehensive legislation to tackle the contentious issue of campaign financing was created with quantifiable success.
He explained that under Barbados’ legislation which is less than a whole page, the secretary of a political party can file a declaration stating the name and address of every financial contributor of the party, two years prior to and six months after the general elections.
“They don’t ask how much – they tell you to give your name and address two years before. We are concerned about
regulating the flow of money during the campaign to try and put everybody on a level playing field. This is a joke!” he told the audience in the St. Gabriel’s school auditorium.
“We need separate campaign financing legislation. You cannot incorporate four sub-sections, half of a page and tell me that is good enough,” Sir David argued.
The former Attorney General also drew reference to the Political Activities Ordinance (PAO) in the TCI created to provide for the registration of political parties and for the regulation of the conduct of political parties in relation to political activity.
The main features of the PAO include the imposition of statutory limits in respect of donations which a registered party or candidate can receive and what they can spend in an election period. “For example, a party or candidate can receive up to $30 000 from an individual or corporate donor, and not more than $30 000 should be spent in an electoral district. Party leaders are allowed a maximum of $100 000 and no party should spend more than $600 000 on an election campaign.”
Sir David noted that millions were found to be filtered through the main political party’s account in 2010. After the 2012 elections, the Commission published donation and campaign expenditure reports. These showed an unprecedented reduction in total donations and campaign expenditure by the parties and candidates. The three Parties that contested those elections spent $578 303. Advertising and publicity materials accounted for $236 952 or approximately 41 per cent of total expenditure. Total donations received by the Parties amounted to $501 850.92.
“This was unprecedented. What was especially heartening was that some private sector donors voluntarily wrote to the Commission informing us of the quantum of donations made to a particular Party,” Sir David stated. (JH)