— Bank of Guyana governor pledges to make declaration on Monday

THE Office of the Integrity Commission has published another list of public officials who have failed to declare their assets and liabilities. The first list highlighted parliamentarians, permanent secretaries, mayors and deputy mayors, but this time around the spotlight was placed on regional councillors, and officers from the Audit Office of Guyana, Bank of Guyana and the Guyana Forestry Commission.

In the Saturday, January 12, 2019 edition of the Guyana Chronicle, the Office of the Integrity Commission, by way of a notice pursuant to Section 19 of the Integrity Commission Act, published the names of 159 public officials who failed to submit their declarations to the commission. Among those named were the Governor of Bank of Guyana, Dr. Gobind Ganga; Bank of Guyana Banking Manager, Joseph Lall; Guyana Forestry Commission – Commissions Manager, Sonya Reece; and Guyana Forestry Commission – Assistant Commissioner of Forests, Gavin Agard.

Dr. Ganga, when contacted by this newspaper, committed to making his declaration on Monday. He, however, explained that he would have made his declaration before the prescribed deadline but was awaiting statements. The governor noted that he did not want to submit estimates but nonetheless assured this newspaper that he will hand in his declaration to the Office of the Integrity Commission on Monday.

Regional councillors from Regions One (Barima-Waini), Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica), Five (Mahaica-Berbice), Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), Eight (Potaro-Siparuni), Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) and 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) were also named, accounting for 134 of all the persons in public life that were named on Saturday.

THE LAW
Public officers and positions listed under Schedule 1 of the Commission’s Act are required to 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 ceases to be a person in public life, the legislation states.

Late last year, Chairman of the Integrity Commission Kumar Doraisami warned that persons who fail to declare their assets and liabilities to the Integrity Commission, after their names were published, would see legal actions being taken against them.
According to the Integrity Commission Act, Part III – Financial Disclosure, Section 13: a person in public life, not being a member of the commission, is required to file a declaration with the commission.

In 2018, the commission issued 1,400 declaration forms to the country’s public office holders but up to December 2018, only 430 declarations were made.
In November, the commission published the names of 87 persons in public offices who had failed to declare their assets and liabilities as of November 1, 2018. That batch included 41 Members of Parliament.

In December, Doraisami told reporters that while the commission is moving to boost its staff complement to 13 by this month (January 2019) to include at least five investigators, the failure of public officials to disclose their assets and liabilities remain a major stumbling block.

NOT ENOUGH
“The only problem we have is declarants actually not submitting their declarations,” he said while explaining that the decision to publish the names of 87 defaulters had spurred some action but not enough.

Section 19 of the Act states: “Where a person who is required to do so fails to file a declaration in accordance with this Act or to furnish particulars under Section 18, the commission or the President, as the case may be, shall publish the fact in the Gazette and in a daily newspaper.”

The Integrity Commission’s Office was relocated to Subryanville last September to cater for an expanding staff including Doraisami and his supporting Commissioners, Rosemary Benjamin-Noble and Rabindranauth Persaud. They were sworn into office in February 2018, and are assisted by the Secretary Amanda Jaisingh.

In June 2017, the Integrity Commission (Amendment of the Code of Conduct) Order 2017 was gazette 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 brought the Act in line with the legislation governing the State Asset Recovery Unit (SARU) 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.