The announcement by the Government of the appointment of Colonel Trevor MacMillan as a special adviser in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service is an important step in the fight against corruption.

Likewise for the announcement that it is tabling the National Investigative Agency Act in Parliament shortly with a view to enabling a comprehensive approach to addressing the corruption issue. We also commend the prompt support which this has elicited from Dr. Peter Phillips, the Leader of Opposition Business in the House. Consensus across party lines on such a fundamental issue is of vital importance.

There can be little doubt that these steps are urgently needed in Jamaica. We have had egregious cases such as the Trafigura affair as well as others which raise very serious issues for the probity of governance. There have been numerous cost overruns on several government projects as well as serious concerns about the entire process by which contracts have been awarded and public funds paid out. The greatest problem of all concerns continued large-scale tax evasion, the curbing of which Colonel MacMillan has direct experience in his stint in revenue protection.

This is not only a domestic issue. Corruption has seriously damaged Jamaica's reputation overseas as a place in which business can be conducted in an open and legal manner. In the recent issue of the report of Transparency International, we suffered the humiliation of being demoted 23 places in a single year - from 61 to 84 - with only Guyana below us in the English-speaking Caribbean. It should, therefore, be clear to all that urgent action is needed to deal firmly with this issue.

The challenge of corruption is not fundamentally about dollars and cents. It is, of course, the case that the costs to government of tax evasion and other forms of corruption are significant. But fighting corruption is not at heart a revenue-raising measure. It is much broader and runs much deeper. What is at stake are the entire ethical framework of governance and the stability of the rule of law. If several persons, high or low, can engage in corrupt practices with impunity, then it intensifies the already high level of chaos and arbitrariness in the society, further increasing the sense of injustice in the vast majority left out of the charmed circle of evil-doers. It deeply corrodes all social processes and breeds cynicism and despair in the general public. It creates an atmosphere of unpredictability in which regular business cannot easily be practised.

The logical outcome of such a process is social, economic and political decay in which all hopes for development will disappear. It is these broad reasons which make it essential for us to forcefully combat corruption at every level of society with all the means that we can command. Fundamental issues of good governance are at stake.

Government alone cannot address a problem of such scope and complexity. Public support will be vital. The consensus from Government and Opposition should be a signal to all that the fight against corruption is not a partisan issue. It is a vital national interest which should unite us all.