Code of Conduct to have wide inputs
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo
Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

THE Integrity Commission has been asked to assist in the process of acquiring further comments and recommendations to the Code of Conduct for senior Government officials. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office noted that this is being done to ensure that the code benefits from the widest possible inputs, while feedback has been received from the Guyana Bar Association and the Guyana Human Rights Association, among others.
“We have received some recommendations from two bodies so far, but we have asked the Integrity Commission to help us in the process of getting more submissions, more criticisms, more observations or more additions, so that we can make the Integrity Code of Conduct — if I may call it that — perhaps one of the best in the world. We want to learn from best practices from other countries,” said Prime Minister Nagamootoo.
According to the statement, the Prime Minister is encouraging citizen and stakeholder participation in the process leading up to the final version of the code, which is intended to promote professional, exemplary and responsible conduct by senior Government officials.
The Prime Minister explained that the code is meant to engender and reinforce public confidence in the manner in which senior Government officials perform their duties in service to the people.
Mr Nagamootoo noted that he had recently commissioned a sub-committee comprising the Governance Department, together with representatives from the Guyana Legal Aid Committee, the body dealing with professional conduct and discipline of practitioners in the legal profession, and some representatives from the Ministry of Natural Resources.
“The Code of Conduct emanated from the time when Minister Trotman was Minister of Governance. He is chairing the sub-committee to receive and review all recommendations, and when that process is through, the code will then be given to us for us to decide whether it should be merged with the integrity legislation visions, or it should be taken to Parliament as legislation by itself.”
Prime Minister Nagamootoo restated that “whatever the best practice would be around the Caribbean and the rest of the Commonwealth in particular, we would want to follow those practices.”
The Code of Conduct is based on 10 principles – accountability, dignity, diligence, duty, honour, integrity, loyalty, objectivity, responsibility and transparency – and is a coalition Government manifesto promise.

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