Political advisor says corruption accepted as the norm

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A political advisor said most allegations of misconduct in public office will continue to go untested because the people have become too normalised to corruption.
Dr Isaac Newton, who is also an author, said the Antiguan and Barbudan culture enables, accepts, tolerates and reinforces corruption.
“Even within the religious community in Antigua because of narrow faith-based interest, some ministers would never touch the issue of conscience and what is right and wrong versus what is in the public domain,” he said.
Dr Newton said that political education is lacking and residents feel their only obligation is to cast a vote at general elections.
The political advisor said voters need to understand that elected officials work for the population and politicians can even be fired when their accountability and integrity are called into question.
“We have a culture that normalises corruption to that point where we have two camps – the peddlers of ‘seat wipers’ in Antigua, some are geriatric and others are young and committed to narrow self-interest. Media houses like the radio of OBSERVER who tend to keep things objective and balanced are perceived as enemies so they create an enemy camp and a friend camp,” he posited.
Dr Newton said that many supporters are blind followers, forever faithful to public officials accused of corrupt practices, while the “sour grapes” label is assigned to anyone assessing the situation critically.
He also noted there are those political operatives whose sole purposes is to harass anyone who constructively criticises the government, and do so at the expense of their morality.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)

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