Martin Henry, Contributor

Poor Shahine Robinson has been saddled with the miracle-working task of turning members of Parliament into angels - or to at least getting the little 'devils' to behave. James Madison, second president of the United States, once famously remarked that "if men were angels, no government would be necessary".

And since the men [and women] in government are no angels either it has always being a fundamental problem of politics about how best to restrain the abuse of power without unduly hobbling the capacity to govern.

The answer of parliamentary democracy has been to devise a balancing of power and responsibilities among branches of government and to place checks and balances on the exercise of power. The Constituency Development Fund (CDF), which MP Robinson has been placed in charge of, is a significant challenge to these hallowed principles.

The Westminster model and its offspring, the Jamaican Consti-tution, most certainly do not accommodate members of the Legislature of Government having any direct powers of expenditure from public revenue. The risk of abuse should be visible even to the blind.

I was delighted to be invited to present my 'odd' views about the dangers of the CDF by, of all media organisations, the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica [PBCJ]. Some of us have high hopes, mixed with trepidations, for the PBCJ and were very distressed with its slowness in getting off the ground.

Different model

We want to see public broadcasting having the freedom to present a variety of views and serving as an important forum for public affairs. I have read several times the 1963 glowing statement of intention by the Bustamante independence Government for the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation, which was never to be fully realised.

The PBCJ model is different, but still aims to transmit the culture, views, concerns and interests of the Jamaican people at state expense without the intrusive interference of the Government. It was very gratifying to hear the young interviewer admitting that he had always thought that the prevailing 'parentalistic' model of the MP was the way things were intended to be, and he wanted to explore my 'odd' position expressed in the column of February 7, 2008. His initial defence of the status quo morphed into understanding as we discussed the issue on and off camera.

Pork barrel politics

Unless an MP is indeed an angel of the unfallen variety, given $1 of state revenue to spend much more the $8 million now provided with a promise of one-sixtieth of 2.5 per cent of the budget when things get better, his/her first thought will be: how can I use this money to ensure my re-election?

Now, not all of the answers will be outrightly corrupt. But you can easily see the very great disadvantage that any competitor for the seat will have to face and overcome. Pork-barrel politics has always been practised everywhere that democracy has been practised for this very reason. But to give the prospects of it official sanction is something else.

The expectation by this self-styled anti-corruption Government of corruption and unfair practices with public revenue in the hands of legislators is high. There are so many regulations blockading the CDF that some MPs have been complaining that these are too rigid. Each MP will now have to run a Constituency Development Committee with everybody who is breathing sitting on it, and will have to present a five-year constituency development plan. In short, the lawmaker is now to become an executive manager/civil servant officer overseeing the delivery of state services to constituents.

The Jamaican Constitution did not envisage any such role. And that role is fraught with danger. The Constitution assigns to Parliament, the legislative arm of Government, a clear and simple role which most constituents have been trained to be unhappy with: "Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Parliament may make laws for the peace, order and good government of Jamaica" [Section 48(1)].

Ask the average MP, not to mention his or her constituents, what the roles and responsibilities of a member of parliament are, and heading the list is likely to be providing some kind of direct benefit to the 'people'. My PBCJ interviewer, blessed with university-level education, thought so too. Under the Constitution, an independent and neutral public service implements the decisions and policies of government. Giving to legislators discretionary spending power over portions of the revenues of the state is bound to have implications for interference with the public service, not to mention implications for the tribalisation of the distribution of scarce benefits, and for corruption.

Pursuing 'development'

An MP, blessed with state revenue resources really has only two options for pursuing 'development' in his/her constituency: To dictate to public service agencies in the discharge of their duties, or to create an alternative delivery system. In either case, the temptation to reward his/her people, to punish opponents, and to 'buy votes' will be strong.

It is a system with which, unfortunately, we are very familiar, albeit at the level of minister/MP. Just last week I heard a minister of Government in a fairly public audience acknowledging what we all know that the partisan distribution of housing was a major factor in garrison formation. We also know how politicians have been able to 'buy' or otherwise enforce the compliance of public servants to their wishes, even without direct access to state revenue. Access is now about to improve that situation.

Jamaica does not have a lot of "peace, order and good government" right now; so members of the Legislature should be quite busy working on that instead of being armed with public revenue to further interfere with the Public Service and to corrupt our democracy. It would be most interesting to have our constitutional lawyers and the Jamaica Civil Service Association break their unwarranted silence on the issue. Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, new president of the Bar Association, has promised to have the association engage public affairs.

Martin Henry is a communication consultant. Feedback may be sent to medhen@gmail.com or columns@gleanerjm.com.