TEN Members of Parliament, including former Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon and Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Khemraj Ramjattan, have failed to submit their 2022 declarations to the Integrity Commission.

The list of defaulters also includes General Secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform, Dawn Hastings-Williams, as well as Opposition MPs Sherod Duncan, Shurwayne Holder, Deonarine Ramsaroop, Vinceroy Jordan, Devin Sears, Former Minister of Education, Nicolette Henry and former Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr Karen Cummings.

In a gazetted notice issued by the Integrity Commission, these individuals are among 85 others, who were named as “specified persons” who failed to comply with the requirement to submit their declarations for the period of July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022.

The notice highlights that the continued failure to file now constitutes an offence under Section 22 of the Commission’s Act No. 1997. If found guilty, the offenders may face a fine of $25,000 and a prison term ranging from six months to one year.

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Dr Bharat Jagdeo, had previously expressed his concerns over the opposition MPs’ failure to submit declarations to Integrity Commission
During a press conference, Dr Jagdeo emphasised that that was the highest number of delinquencies in the past five years.

In comparison, he pointed out that, during the previous three years under the former APNU+AFC government, no declarations were submitted at all.

“We are not here to defend any public officer who does not submit their returns to the Integrity Commission. That is a law of our country, and we fully support the publication of all the names of the people who are in default,” Dr Jagdeo said.

He related that the PPP/C Members of Parliament had already submitted their documents.

On February 21, 2021, the previous board of the Integrity Commission reached the end of its term.

Subsequently, a new board consisting Dr Kim Kyte-Thomas, Mohamed Ispahani Haniff, Hardesh Tewari, and Wayne Bowman, with Chandra Gajraj serving as the Chair of the Commission, was formed in May 2022.

The swearing-in ceremony took place at the Office of the President, located on Shiv Chanderpaul Drive in Georgetown, officiated by Principal Magistrate, Judy Latchman.
The Integrity Commission recently issued a warning to public officers who have not submitted their 2022 declarations.

“As of February 2023, the commission has sent out notices to several specified public officers for failure to file their declarations. The next step is that defaulters will have their names published in the local press and the official gazette. If declarations are still not received, the final step would be to seek prosecution of the defaulters,” the commission said in a statement.

Last December, the commission extended the submission deadline for declarations by persons in public life.