Minister of State Joseph Harmon

…after stymieing work since its formation 

Minister of State Joseph Harmon has stated that Government will have to return to the National Assembly to have the names of persons approved as Commissioners of the Integrity Commission.

Giving an update on the Commission which has been dormant for some time now, Harmon told journalists on Friday that, “as of now, the Integrity Commission is a Commission without Commissioners and it is functioning under a CEO and a very small staff and a very limited budget”.

The Commission which is responsible for accountability of persons holding public office has been without a Chairman for some time and has reportedly been functioning with a skeletal staff.

Based on the Commission’s Act, the Commission’s staff should comprise a Chairman, three Commissioners, a Secretary/Chief Executive Officer, an Accounts Clerk, a Clerical Officer, a Receptionist, an Office Assistant and a Cleaner. However, this publication understands that almost half of these positions are vacant.

From the beginning of the Integrity Commission’s mission, the PNC has stymied its effectiveness when it refused to accept Bishop Randolph George as Chairman. They refused to submit information on assets and other personal financial transactions. The AFC followed their lead after it was formed. In the meantime, the PPP and other smaller parties made submissions.

Harmon said there are still some work that have to be done on the commission. He noted that while he recently held talks with staff members, which include a Chief Executive Officer, the question is the appointment of Commissioners.

“There are some whose names had been recommended in the tenth Parliament, but the President there did not appoint them. That means that the recommendation had lapsed and therefore will have to go back to the National Assembly for new persons to be appointed. He said it may very well be that they will have to recognize that those persons had gone through that process and they could agree to them being appointed. But this will have to have a stamp which will then be taken to the President for his assent”, Harmon explained.

Harmon said he assured the staff that as soon as work of the National Assembly allows for the appointment of the commissioners,  “they will be there”.

The Minister of State also relayed that Government will also be giving a fresh look at the mandate of the Commission; since it felt the Commission did not have enough power to enforce any decision.

“The fact that these officials would submit to the commission and there was no clear procedure as to what happened after that, that there was some mechanism within the law to ensure that there is a follow-up to these claims”

He said it would be a waste of time if the Commission did not have the capacity to investigate those claims.

Just last week, former President and Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo renewed a call for all Members of Parliament (MPs) to declare all their assets, to both the Integrity Commission and the general public.

“I said to the President (David Granger) that since there have been lots of charges about people stashing money abroad … and since we are in this transparency mode, some of the things we can work on are, first of all, why don’t we get all of our Members of Parliament to make public, not just to the Integrity Commission, but to make public, their assets held outside of Guyana because there are claims that it is difficult to access that because they say you can find things in Guyana, but they have a hard time tracking things around the world,” Jagdeo had said

He explained a law can be passed to allow parliamentarians to deposit affidavits in the National Assembly so any member of the public can visit and check to see the assets each MP has abroad, noting that similar provision can be made for the public availability of the taxes paid by each MP.

Previously, Jagdeo explained that if such information was made public, then the “wild charges” could then be investigated.

Jagdeo had contended that the A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition Administration ought not to be opposed to a move towards greater transparency and accountability, given public pronouncements on the campaign trail.

“If the Government is in favour of transparency, it should not be opposed to these measures because they enhance transparency … these are some of the ideas I have in mind,” he posited.

The former President proffered the view also that such a move would augur well for Guyana’s development and the PPP/C was prepared to work with anyone on transparency related matters.