Senior government ministers Khemraj Ramjattan and Cathy Hughes up to Friday afternoon were yet to file their declarations to the Integrity Commission pursuant to the Integrity Commission Act, almost a month after an extended deadline.
Both ministers made the admission during an Alliance for Change (AFC) press conference on Friday. Hughes, the Minister of Public Telecommunications, said that she is late because she was awaiting documents she received on Thursday. She indicated that she would be filing her declaration later Friday afternoon.
Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson, who was also in attendance, disclosed that he has already made his declarations, but said that he has been asked to provide further particulars. The need for further particulars, he said, is due to the odd time at which the commission’s year ends.
Asked whether there is a need to sync the commission’s fiscal year with the usual (January to December) fiscal year, all three ministers agreed that this would solve complications.
The Act requires all public officers, which includes ministers, to file declarations of their assets, as well as those held by their spouses and children, by June 30th of every year.
Chairman of the Integrity Commission Kumar Doraisami told Stabroek News earlier this month that the deadline had been extended to August 31st, but by that date, many persons still had not filed their declarations. Doraisami shared that to facilitate the filing of declarations this year, the commission distributed 1,137 declaration forms, but up to the time he spoke, only 396 were returned. Among the defaulters this year, Doraisami had said, are a number of Members of Parliament, as at that date, only 11 of them filed their declarations.
Last year, the commission had published several lists of persons who had failed to submit their declarations long after the deadline had passed. Doraisami said that the commission will likely publish the names of persons delinquent for the current year in November or December.
He has indicated that a lack of finances has prevented the commission from carrying out various important tasks. Doraisami disclosed that the commission has just one investigator, which hampers its ability to verify the accuracy of the declarations filed, and while the commission is desirous of prosecuting persons who are delinquent with their declarations, it does not have the finances to hire attorneys to prosecute the matters.
He also revealed that the commission recently approached the Ministry of Finance for a supplementary budget, but was told that it cannot receive any further funds until next year. During a recent post-Cabinet briefing, Director General of the Ministry of Presidency Joseph Harmon, when asked whether government would consider elevating the commission to constitutional status and giving it financial autonomy, said “…we are in interim mode and there are certain things that we cannot go ahead and do.”
Speaking to the same issue at the AFC’s press conference on Friday, however, Ramjattan, who is the Minister of Public Security as well as an attorney, said that they “would have to urge that…it [be made] a constitutional agency.” Regarding the issue of potentially beefing up the commission’s capacity, Ramjattan said “we know that it will require larger personnel.” He suggested that this is something that can be explored by the coalition government should it win the coming general and regional elections.
Hughes, meantime, said that while she has no issues filing her declarations, she has an issue with the commission’s failure to respond to enquiries she has made. She shared that she recently made an enquiry, but has received nothing more than an acknowledgment. She said that another enquiry never received a response.
