The Integrity Commission finally revealed some names of those persons in government and public office who have failed to submit a declaration of their assets and liabilities, as is required by law. According to the Integrity Commission Act, “Every person who is a person in public life, not being a member of the Commission, is required to file a declaration every year on or before 30th June, and in cases where such persons cease to be a person in public life, within 30 days from the date on which the person ceases to be a person in public life.
“A declaration under subsection (I) or (2) shall give full, true and complete particulars of the assets and liabilities as on the relevant date, and the income during a period of twelve months immediately prior to the relevant date, of the person filling the declaration (whether the assets were held by that person in his own name or in the name of any other person) and of the spouse and children of such person to the extent to which such person has knowledge of the same.”
After a hiatus of more than a decade, during which the Commission was without a Chair and members due to the refusal of the PNC to submit their nominees, after they had strenuously objected to the Chairmanship of Anglican Bishop Randolph George, the body was reconstituted two years ago. However, the members of the coalition Government continued to obdurately refuse to file returns. A month ago, it was revealed that President David Granger was one of the recalcitrant transgressors, which included 23 Government MPs and 3 Opposition MPs.
The full list was not released, however, because the Commission claimed it did not have the necessary funds to have the names published. This newspaper and another volunteered to print the list of defaulters, but the offer was refused. With the names now Gazetted, it is not known whether the Commission’s funding woes have been addressed.
Based on what has transpired in the two years the Integrity Commission was resuscitated, it is not surprising to discover that of the 20 MPs who have refused to file, all are from the Government benches; the three Opposition MPs have obviously complied.
Among the offending MPs are several ministers of the Government, prominent among them being the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams, who was recently conferred with the honour of “Senior Counsel”. Other ministers, in what has to be a list of shame, are Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan; Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr George Norton; Minister of the Public Service, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley; Minister within the Ministry of Communities, with responsibility for Housing, Annette Ferguson; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Karen Cummings; Minister within the Ministry of the Presidency, with responsibility for Youth Affairs, Simona Broomes; and Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, with responsibility for Rural Affairs, Valerie Adams-Yearwood. There were 74 Government officials listed.
What is very hypocritical of the members of the Government is that they vowed to conduct their affairs, upon assuming office, with the utmost integrity. However, in the subsequent five years, the administration has been dogged with one accusation after another of corruption and misuse of public funds.
The filing of their assets and liabilities could have been used as a baseline to gauge whether the accusations had any basis in fact, and whether some of them could be charged with misfeasance, or worse.
Minister within the Ministry of Communities, with responsibility for Housing, Annette Ferguson, for instance, has been accused of receiving more than one house lot, and if she had made her filing, this could have been scrutinised.
In their present campaign, the APNU/AFC coalition have made “honesty and integrity” their slogan. But we wonder how they would be able to face the electorate when so many of their candidates have been recalcitrant in their legal duty to submit their declarations of assets and liabilities.
What are they hiding? The electorate wants to know.
