Ramotar blamed for absence of Integrity Commission– AFC

The non-enactment of the Integrity Act by not appointing independent reliable individuals to become members of the Integrity Commission is wholly President Donald Ramotar’s responsibility, says Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC).
According to Ramjattan, by virtue of Guyana’s Constitution the Integrity Act could only come into being when the President appoints members of the Integrity Commission. And, the President having been in Office for over a year, has not moved in this regard.
The 33-member Opposition in the National Assembly cannot do anything but beg Government to establish the much needed Commission, he declared.

AFC’s leader, Khemraj Ramjattan

The AFC Leader made those comments in response to the United States of America 2012 Human Rights Report which highlighted Government’s apparent ineffectiveness in implementing laws that provide for criminal penalties for corruption by public officials.
The US Human Rights Report zeroed in on the fact that public officials are subject to financial disclosure laws and are required to submit information about personal assets to the Integrity Commission.
Ramjattan related that the Opposition has been begging Government repeatedly to reconstitute the Integrity Commission to adequately deal with alleged and real corruption. To date, Government, particularly, the Head-of-State has not moved forward in this regard.
Government has to live with the fact that United States of America is speaking out loud and clear about this shortcoming, Ramjattan said.
He added that institutional mechanisms need to be put in place to ensure that Government is ready to combat corruption.
The politician is of the opinion that Ramotar’s inaction is giving the perception that he is part and parcel in accommodating the corruption that the international community is talking about.
According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), the Integrity Commission Act was made into law on September 24, 1997. And, on June 14, 2012 the National Assembly approved a motion for Members of Parliament to comply with the Integrity Commission Act.
“Failure to comply will result in their names being published in the Official Gazette or a daily newspaper,” GINA bulletin said.
According to Ramjattan, the Integrity Act needs to be amended to have public officials including Ministers of Government, Customs Officers and Senior Police Officers reveal their assets and gazette them. However, the declarations of these officials must be honest and this is where the members of the Integrity Commission would have their work cut out.

President Donald Ramotar

He stressed that the Commission would be toothless if it only collects declarations of Officials and no checks are made to ensure that they are accurate. Taking the investigation of Officials further, Ramjattan suggested that close relatives should also be investigated to ascertain where their wealth is coming from.
He explained that if an Official is employed at a Ministry as a Chief Executive Officer and takes home ‘X’ amount of money and his wife works in another Ministry for an amount lesser than ‘X’ and has a $60M house registered in her name the Commission should investigate where the woman got the money to erect the house.
Ramjattan emphasized that the pertinent question that needs answering in a lot of cases is where the money came from to erect this huge house or purchase an expensive vehicle. He stressed that members of the Integrity Commission when created must have teeth to address wrongdoings.
According to Ramjattan, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) must also complement the works of the Commissioners of the Integrity Commission. He said that the GRA should send out Officers to ascertain where persons acquire money to invest in big businesses and build lavish houses. This, he stressed, would help craft the Anti-money Laundering Bill.
Ramjattan said that pertinent bodies such as the Private Sector Commission, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association and other professional organizations need to mount more pressure on Government to enact the Integrity Law.
According to Clinton Urling, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), the non-enactment of the Integrity Act and by extension not setting up the Integrity Commission is hindering Guyana and it is one of the institutions GCCI wants established.

GCCI’s President Clinton Urling

He said that GCCI has been advocating for Government to enact the Integrity Act and recalled this was done extensively last year.
However, GCCI is only limited to an advocacy body where a fair and stable economic environment is the major priority.