Editorial – May 30, 2014
Last year and prior we promoted articles on Integrity and questioned often when the Act that was passed since 2010, and which had been in consideration before, would come into effect. We carried such Editorials as, “It requires a lot when you lack integrity”, “Failure to get the Integrity Act in motion is an act of corruption”, and on June 2013, “Who cares about integrity, good governance, corruption and transparency?” (See: www.themontserratreporter.com)
We carried articles on the matter, reporting on TCI’s success in getting declarations from its people. Also, articles out of Africa on issues of integrity and the fight to correct corruption.
We were aware of some of the problems, not complimentary, encountered in getting the Commission finally installed in January of this year. We believe that we learned of this on the way, but hardly noticed and it may well have gone unnoticed as its relevance almost seemed worthless.
Some of the delay had to do with the number of persons/offices who would be impacted by the Act and politicians who obviously believed they had much to hide.
They will have to be careful how they declared their assets, that they do not lie one way or the other, particularly if they under declare, in an effort to hide. It may come to haunt.
Well now the next step after the Commissioners (see front page story) have been trained and the affected are being informed and encouraged to follow the law, is to see how compliant they will be.
It is showing that the Integrity law here is not much different from some already adopted in other Islands such as Dominica.
Good governance will be tested and corruption will see real challenge. But that said, it all depends on how corrupted and corruptible people in Montserrat are. It is not that what is gone is gone, because corruption is not easily forgotten, only that the mechanism is in place to make people be held accountable. Forgive you must, but acceptance and carrying on as if it didn’t exist, hurt and destroy, is total ignorance and a future of suffering and death.
Like Trinidad & Tobago and Dominica, the Integrity Commission is an autonomous body. In Trinidad it says of its Commission, it is a body, “that seeks to promote integrity as a foundational element of – society. The Commission is mandated under the Constitution to ensure that persons in public life and persons exercising a public function comply with the laws governing integrity in the fulfillment of their duties and responsibilities to the people they serve. The Commission also undertakes initiatives aimed at empowering citizens to engage in the dynamic evolution of the system.“
The Seminar held here over the two days passed by the Constitution & Commissions Secretariat, who says they are aware of their own responsibilities of support to the Commission and indeed the other Commissions also. They said in their invite, that the workshop was to “better inform you about the Integrity in Public Office Act and how it will affect you and every other individual considered to be a Person in Public Life.”
The question now is: “How long will it be before, we can report that the Island of Montserrat has achieved the mission of the Integrity Commission, who says? “A nation free of corruption and governed by persons in public life who are imbued with the highest standard of integrity. ” And who seeks to : “To establish effective oversight of the financial affairs of persons in public life in order to foster a culture of integrity, accountability and probity, and respond to complaints of corruption in public life.”
If that is at all possible NOW, if it gives any pause for thought, GoM and MDC would immediately complete a revamp of their ‘ambitious fantasy’ of creating a ‘white elephant’ economy. Integrity and good governance will then, would have been their prime consideration.
