Integrity Commission Warns Staff Exodus Is Undermining Anti-Corruption Capacity

The Integrity Commission (IC), Jamaica's main anti-corruption agency, has raised serious concerns about holding on to qualified, experienced personnel, after 29 workers exited during the most recent financial year.

Retired Justice Carol Lawrence Beswick, who chairs the commission, said retention problems stem from more than the pay on offer. Restrictions on how far staff can be placed within approved salary bands have also made it harder to keep top talent.

Those limits, she argued, weaken the IC's ability to attract and keep highly skilled specialists in a labour market that is growing more competitive. The result is gaps in key posts and reduced efficiency across day-to-day operations.

Lawrence Beswick acknowledged that staff turnover happens in every organisation. Still, she said each departure of a trained worker adds pressure on remaining teams and forces heavy spending on hiring, induction and rebuilding capacity.

She pointed to the distinct demands of integrity work, where officers often work under intense conditions on sensitive cases while facing strong public scrutiny over corruption.

"It is important that, as a society, we encourage suitable brave men and women to offer themselves to fight against corruption and that we compensate them appropriately, allowing them to perform their duties safely and securely," the chairman declared.

Lawrence Beswick praised IC officers for routinely exceeding expectations, citing their professionalism, resilience and commitment as among the body's strongest assets.

Even with the loss of 29 staff, the commission brought in 39 new recruits who, it said, added new ideas and specialist knowledge to support its mandate.

Executive Director Craig Beresford said that since taking office in October last year, he has paid courtesy calls on major stakeholders, including Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness.

Those meetings, he said, opened space to address operational pressures facing the commission and wider questions about Jamaica's anti-corruption architecture.

Beresford listed human-resource strains — especially difficulty recruiting and keeping skilled workers because of how pay is structured — alongside capacity shortfalls and the push to meet international benchmarks for integrity agencies as central talking points.

"The issues raised, should they remain unresolved, will continue to limit effective oversight, diminish inter-agency coordination, and constrain efforts to strengthen the national integrity system," he added.

Turning to performance over the review period, Beresford highlighted several notable outcomes. Compliance among public officials submitting statutory declarations rose by 11 per cent.

The IC also tracked 2,026 government contracts worth roughly J$208.6 billion and US$792 million, and finalised 112 investigation reports.