Coalition resurrected Integrity Commission – Harmon

DIRECTOR-GENERAL of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, said the Integrity Commission was given a new lease on life under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government.

“It was dormant for a long time before we came into office,” Harmon told reporters at the Ministry of the Presidency on Friday, in response to a question on whether government is willing to elevate the Integrity Commission to a constitutional body, and provide it with sufficient finance given recent complaints that its work has been stymied due to the shortage of funds.

In responding to the question, the Director-General reminded that the commission was inactive for an extensive period, and it was the APNU+AFC Government that reconstituted the commission after it took office.

“We have reconstituted that commission; we have provided them with the financial resources necessary for the work; we have provided them with facilities for the offices to do their work; we have guaranteed the independence of this commission,” Harmon explained.

While noting that the Integrity Commission was the subject of a review in the past, the Director-General said because the government is operating in an interim mode, elevation of the commission to a constitutional agency is not an issue it can treat with at the moment.
The Integrity Commission was reconstituted in February, 2018 when Kumar Doraisami was appointed chairman, and Pandit Rabindranauth Persaud and Rosemary Benjamin-Noble named Commissioners.

In June 2017, the Integrity Commission (Amendment of the Code of Conduct) Order 2017 was gazetted by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo. In keeping with the 10 Principles of Public Life – accountability, dignity, diligence, duty, honour, integrity, loyalty, objectivity, responsibility and transparency – the order addressed issues of bribes, discrimination, gifts, conflict of interest, use of official influence, handling of classified information, use of public property, sexual misconduct and entertainment.

The expansion of the existing Code of Conduct, the prime minister had explained, brings the Act in line with the legislation governing the State Asset Recovery Unit and the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), which states that employees of these state agencies must declare their assets in accordance with the Schedule II of the State Asset Recovery Act. The Integrity Commission Act was assented to on September 24, 1997.

Public officers and positions listed under Schedule One of the Commission’s Act should disclose their financial assets and liabilities on or before June 30 each year. When a public officer ceases to be a person in public life, he or she should disclose his or her assets and liabilities to the Commission within 30 days from the date that individual cease to be a person in public life, the legislation states. In the past, the functioning of the Integrity Commission had been a controversial issue, though the previous administration had sworn in members in 1999. That Commission’s Chairman, Bishop Randolph George, resigned in 2006, and has not been replaced to date.

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