Political Corruption Starts With Contributions

Jamaica is slowly coming to terms with it's lack of accountability regarding political contributions and campaign finance. Long way to go so better keep at it!

Bunting wants full disclosure

BY GARFIELD MYERS Editor-at-Large South Central Bureau

Thursday, July 08, 2010

MANDEVILLE, Manchester – General Secretary of the People's National Party (PNP) Peter Bunting has said that the "still unexplained" payment of $US49,000 to US law firm, Manatt, Phelps and Phillips to facilitate a controversial lobbying effort by the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is further evidence of the need for "full disclosure" on financial contributions to political parties.

"Public disclosure of financing of political parties right now, is a matter of public interest," Bunting told his Central Manchester Constituency Conference at the Manchester High School last Sunday.

"We have been working for many years on campaign finance reform, public financing of political parties -- an issue the PNP has been advocating for the last seven years.

"We have been trying to work with the JLP at the level of the electoral commission. In the interest of consensus we have been willing to hold back from full public disclosure of every donor to a political party. But the time has come where we really need to put the spotlight on where the funding for political parties is coming from," he said.

Bunting noted that while the bungled effort purportedly by the JLP to lobby the US government "against the extradition of Christopher Coke" had caused great problems for the Government, the country had not been told "who that secret donor was (that was) willing to give US$49,000 as a down payment on a contract of US$400,000".