Why Integrity Commission?
Kaieteur News – Do we need an Integrity Commission? The one we have, is it functioning as an Integrity Commission should? If so, then how can it be improved? If it’s not delivering what was anticipated then what to do about it? We will now try to answer and address all of those tough questions.
We in this publication say it most unequivocally: we need an Integrity Commission. That cannot be argued for, or distanced from the essential presence of such a body. It is needed because of what we have as a large part of our political and professional public service culture, the culture of sleaze perfected by scoundrels, who exploit the trust placed in them, to gouge and gut the public treasury in many a different way. . This is how public finances are managed (more on that again). This is how basic services, billion-dollar projects and procurement relationships are provided and overseen. He is always committed to the standard and consistency of ethics displayed by politicians and public servants in the exercise of their heavy responsibilities.
Some have responded fully to what the Commission requires; others have not, and that’s where the problem resides. This includes many important responsibilities in the practices manifested in a multitude of areas that encompass the parliamentary high to the day-to-day, and everything in between. Men and women must (not just need to be) manifest deep immaculacy in the way they shape themselves. They have no worries, which is what the latest US State Department Report (KN April 1) noted, which confirmed the fears of a significant number of Guyanese about a number of sensitive places in Guyana, of which the Integrity Commission. one.
But we did not need a State Department report to substantiate our convictions, which is the answer we give for our second question: the Guyana Integrity Commission, to an uncomfortable degree, is not functioning as it should. A Guyanese who falls within his explanation has done more and more repeatedly than giving the Commission a curated middle finger. Some Guyanese political presidents and senior public servants have achieved the equivalent of dropping their pants and responding with a full moon in the face of the Commission. He takes that, and is done. The Integrity Commission has been generally content to do and go, with nothing more than vain protests of non-cooperation and non-compliance. That will not get the job of any self-respecting Integrity Commission anywhere done efficiently and satisfactorily. It has to do more, and in ways that don’t push back.
Our third question was: given where it is, can it be improved? We believe that, and for the simplest reasons: we need one that works well; because if we don’t have that, then we might as well stop talking about clean stewardship and moral and ethical leadership. We may as well resign ourselves to the barbarians who run amok inside this country, and the moonmen who run the refuge throughout the country. But which we cannot subscribe to, it will never approve, given the caliber of people we have had in the last half century and counting in charge of political and bureaucratic issues. They must be watched, policed and close.
The Integrity Commission can be improved, because the basic work and structure on which it can take great strides has been raised. He must have the right people, those who will not be pushed around or party to lay hard and obfuscating stones. The strength and the will have to be there to explore and do some hard pushing on their own. The thinking and actions of the Integrity Commission leaders must be: to carry out or deal with them in uncertain terms, with the full scope of the existing laws to be brought into force. We also believe that the existing laws should be improved to give the Commission more teeth, through more powers. He must reprimand, he must draw before the courts, he must be punitive; and if some have to be open and embarrassed, then let that be the price of non-compliance. It must make the most of what is currently available within its ability to bring all offenders (no exceptions) to order. It must go beyond publicity, warning and reminder. The Integrity Commission must move to the courts for those who play games to be given the maximum sentence of 12 months to carry out its work. Only when it does, will an Integrity Commission worth the name, pull its weight and fulfill its mandate.
The last question raised above was: if it continues to fall significantly short, then what should be done with it? If the political will and political integrity are not there to give the Integrity Commission the legal tools and procedural powers it has to be armed with, then only one option remains. Plug it in, break it down and stop making a fool of Guyanese who looks to be sentinel and security against local political and professional predators constantly offering ways to cheat the system, and cheat ‘ the taxpayers. We hate to say it, but if our leaders and the people of the Integrity Commission can’t do the job properly, then go ahead and get rid of it. We sincerely hope that matters do not end there.