Anti-corruption forum being held for MPs

A three-day anti-corruption forum for parliamentarians yesterday opened at the Marriott Hotel, where guests from the UK branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) hope to impart knowledge to local counterparts on dealing with corruption, standards in public office and parliamentary codes of conduct.

“I think that it was a very enlightening and productive forum on an important issue and I want to thank the CPA and the Government of Guyana for organising it. And I hope that we will have more engagements of this type addressing thorny issues, such corruption, abuse of power in office and the role of the Speaker in a National Assembly,” Chairman of yesterday’s first session and PPP/C MP Anil Nandlall told Stabroek News.

The gathering at the forum (GINA photo)
The gathering at the forum (GINA photo)

The forum was only open to the media during a brief opening session, where Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Barton Scotland and UK Member of Parliament Sir Kevin Barron both expressed their optimism about possible outcomes of the forum.

Scotland underscored the importance of the significant role that public officials hold in a nation’s view and attitudes towards corruption.

Nandlall explained that the opening session dealt specifically with defining corruption and he noted that as Chairperson he used the opportunity to express his views where needed.

“I took the opportunity to observe that it is both karmic and serendipitous that the Marriott Hotel was chosen as the venue to discuss corruption since during its construction it was heavily condemned by those now in government as the epitome of corruption. I also took the opportunity of giving the broad overview of the institutional mechanisms that were put in place—by the PPP/C administration—which either never existed before or were absent in Guyana for a long period of time,” he said.

“I highlighted the return of audits of the Public Accounts of Guyana by the Auditor General after a ten-year hiatus under the previous administration, the delinking of the Auditor General’s Office from the public service and from central government and the conferment upon that office of functional autonomy and independence, in the discharge of its functions,” he added.

He pointed out that the forum was interactive, with the UK delegates also expressing their views not only on Guyana’s parliamentary processes but raising concerns about the frequency of meetings of the National Assembly.

Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan and Baron Callanan, a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, were also presenters during the session dedicated to defining corruption.

Among objectives of the seminar would be to provide technical assistance and expertise to the sub-committee on the draft ministerial code of conduct, explore in depth the principles behind the United Nations Convention against Corruption and its relevance to parliamentarians here and examining and building understanding of the role of parliamentarians in scrutiny, oversight and legislation in relation to corruption.

The UK delegation also includes David Melding, a member of the National Assembly for Wales, and Eve Samson, Clerk of the European Scrutiny Committee, House of Commons.