PRESIDENT David Granger is expected to unveil a new Integrity Commission soon, now that nominees have been identified and submitted by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.
The Integrity Commission Act allows the commission to comprise a chairperson and not more than four other commissioners.
It also caters for a secretary to oversee the day-to-day work of the commission and other officers for its proper functioning. Having responsibility for governance, Prime Minister Nagamootoo was asked to submit a list of nominees.
The persons serving as commissioners themselves are expected to be of good standing and are required to declare their assets to the President.
In his weekly column in the Guyana Chronicle, “My Turn,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo on Sunday, June 25, 2017 said the selection of qualified nominees for the positions was no simple task.
“Selection has to take into consideration not only the professional qualifications of the nominees, but ethnic and gender balance,” the prime minister said.
He noted too that some persons were concerned about the requirements, particularly with the one that calls for full disclosure.
“Many persons who were approached expressed great interest in serving, but some didn’t like the idea of making declarations of their assets, especially those in business and professional private practice,” he explained.
Nonetheless, the prime minister made it clear that moves by the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Administration to restore integrity in public life must go on.
“I am grateful to those who stepped forward to do duty for their country. Yet, I suspect that the critics, cynics and oppositionists would take a swing at the commissioners and would try to besmirch their characters,” he posited.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo noted that these criticisms would more than likely be peddled by the parliamentary Opposition – the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) – which has fallen short in making meaningful contributions to the development of Guyana.
“When I shared with the Leader of the Opposition the draft Code of Conduct for persons in public life, he quickly but intemperately moved to deem it ‘crap.’Though he refused to submit any proposals, I took scraps and pieces from his public pronouncements and tempered and improved sections of the code which has since been gazetted for inclusion in the Integrity Commission law,” the prime minister explained.
The Integrity Commission (Amendment of the Code of Conduct) Order 2017 was Gazetted on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 by the prime minister. It is expected to be laid in the National Assembly soon for review by a Parliamentary Committee, paving the way for its enforcement.
In keeping with the 10 Principles of Public Life – accountability, dignity, diligence, duty, honour, integrity, loyalty, objectivity, responsibility and transparency – the order addresses issues of bribes, discrimination, gifts, conflict of interest, use of official influence, handling of classified information, use of public property, sexual misconduct and entertainment.
In underscoring the need to have the required legislation and systems in place, Prime Minister Nagamootoo pointed out that “over the past 10 years, Guyana has carried the unenviable stigma of being ranked the second lowest in the Caribbean on the corruption perception index.”
He noted that for the greater part of that period, Guyana had no Integrity Commission. Since 2009, the commission was without a chairman, and by 2012, the commission had lapsed.
The Integrity Commission Act came into effect on September 24, 1997; however, the commission was operationalised two years after under the chairmanship of Bishop Randolph George, now deceased.
It had operated out of an office located at State House.
“Our Government re-affirms its commitment to strengthening the quality of public office in Guyana. For this, we need not only relevant codes and laws, but a reconstituted Integrity Commission to whom persons in public life should declare their assets and incomes, and which should monitor conduct of office-holders to ensure that they do not benefit from disproportionate wealth, or gain personal advantage and advancement from such office,” the prime minister stated.