The Integrity Commission Act and the proposed amendment and revision of the Code of Conduct

Before proceeding with today’s article, there were two news items that deserve brief commentary. First, the Kaieteur News reported that the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Natural Resources would be meeting to discuss the future of the Guyana Lottery Control Commission since there was no meeting of the Commission since July 2015. Readers may recall that around the same time, the latter, in his capacity as Minister of Governance, had announced that the proceeds of the “Lotto Fund” would be paid directly into the Consolidated Fund and that the Minister of Finance would issue the relevant order soon.

We felt that this was a welcome development and a victory for public accountability after 20 years of struggle to get the Government to recognize that the proceeds are public revenues which have to be paid over to the Consolidated Fund and that no expenditure can be incurred from such proceeds without Parliamentary approval. It, however, came as a disappointment that despite the assurance given, several projects, including the D’Urban Park Project, were funded from the Lotto Fund.  One hopes that during the proposed meeting, due consideration is given to: (a) the closure of the special bank account into which the Lotto proceeds are deposited; (b) the dissolution of the Commission; and (c) having the operators, Canadian Bank Note, pay directly to the Accountant General the Government’s share of such proceeds for credit to the Consolidated Fund.