Diplomats and Ministry of the Presidency staff are among the latest public officials identified by the Integrity Commission as those who have failed to declare their assets and liabilities in keeping with the law but it remains unclear when legal action will be taken against anyone already in breach.
On December 19th, during a visit by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, the Commission’s Chairman Kumar Doraisami had announced that he was giving errant officials two months more to get themselves in order, failing which steps would be taken to prosecute. At the time, Doraisami said that only approximately 430 of the 1,400 declaration forms that were sent out had been returned.
Stabroek News has been unable to get a comment from Doraisami on the commencement of the legal action. A call to him on Wednesday was abruptly ended and several efforts thereafter to reach him were unsuccessful.
According to the Integrity Commission Act, every person who is a person in public life, not being a member of the Commission, is required to file a declaration every year on or before June 30th and in cases where such persons cease to be a person in public life, within 30 days from the date on which the person ceases to be a person in public life.
A fifth list of errant public officials—the shortest to date—was published in the Official Gazette on February 2nd and appeared in the state owned Chronicle on the same date, in keeping with the law.
The list comprises 66 names, including those of diplomats and Ministry of the Presidency staff.
Listed under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are George Talbot, Ambassador to Brazil; David Hales, Ambassador to Belgium; Shirley J. Melville, Consul General, Boa Vista, Roraima; Cita Pilgrim, Consul General, Barbados; Halim Majeed, Ambassador to Cuba; Barbara Atherly, Consul General to New York; Clarissa S. Riehl, High Commissioner to Canada; Dr. Shamir Ally, Ambassador to Kuwait; Hamley Case, High Commissioner to London; Esther Griffith, Consul General of Nickerie, Suriname; Keith George, Ambassador to Suriname; Michael Ten-Pow, Ambassador/ Permanent Representative to United Nations; Choo An Yin, Consul General to Toronto; Dr. Kenneth Hunte, High Commissioner to South Africa; John Ronald Deep Ford, Ambassador/ Permanent Representative to Switzerland; Neville Totaram, Deputy Head of Mission to Switzerland; Bishwaishwar Ramsaroop, High Commissioner to Trinidad & Tobago; Cheryl Marilyn Miles- Ambassador to Venezuela; Robert Mc Kenzie, Deputy Head of Mission to Venezuela; Dr. Riyad Insanally, Ambassador to United States of America; Vanessa Dickenson, Director of International Cooperation, Department of International Cooperation; Christine Hales, Chief Administrative Officer, Administrative Department; Rawle Lucas, Adviser to the Minister on Foreign Trade & Investment Matters, Department of Foreign Trade; and Sharon McPherson, Senior Adviser, Public Diplomacy, Office of the Minister.
Listed also are six Ministry of the Presidency staff members. They are: Frederick McWilfred, Head Political Division; Roxanne Barratt, Principal Assistant Secretary (G); Edward Persico, Special Assistant to the Minister of State; Carlton Semple, National Emergency Coordinator (CDC); Ronald Backer, Political Assistant; and Keith Bobb-Semple, Transport Officer.
Also making the list are George Jervis, Agricultural Sector Development Unit Director; Cecil Seepersaud, Agricultural Project Cycle Unit Head; Andrea Branford, Principal Assistant Secretary (F); Sharon Fareed, Principal Assistant Secretary (G); Bibi Hakim, Principal Personnel Officer; and Mohamed Khan, Chairman, Guyana Fisheries Limited, who are all attached to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Under the Ministry of Business, Lowell Porter, the Chief Executive Officer of the Small Business Bureau, is the only person listed.
Under the Ministry of Communities, the Commission has identified Roger Rogers, Chief Planning Officer; Jennifer Roberts, Administrative Officer; Bramhanand Singh, Principal Regional Development Officer (ag); Surendra Khayyam, Principal Regional Development Officer; Grace Adams, Assistant Secretary (G); Michael Blackman, Manager Procurement Unit; Kirsty Jack-Marshall, Senior Registry Supervisor (ag); Martin Pertab, Housing Economist; Narine Ramroop, Coordinator, Education; and Puran Persaud, Senior Regional Development Officer.
Under the Central Housing & Planning Authority, those listed are Germane Stewart, Chief Development Planner; Denise King-Tudor, Director of Operations; Gladwin Charles, Director, Community Development; and Lenise Tucker, Head, Research, Policy, Planning & Evaluation.
Evelyn Hamilton, Chief Planning Officer of the Ministry of Education; Claire Emanuel, Administrator, Indigenous Residence, Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs; Tamika Barkoye, Deputy Permanent Secretary; and Joycelin Kim-Kyte-Thomas, [former] Solicitor General of the Ministry of Legal Affairs are also listed.
Listed under the Department of Social Cohesion, Culture, Youth and Sports are Alexis Sullivan, Principal Personnel Officer (ag); Linda Griffith, Director of Dance, National Dance School; Megan Hazel, Administrator (ag), National Culture Centre; and Ermys Wilson, Principal Assistant Secretary (F).
The Ministry of Public Infrastructure officials identified by the Commission as being in breach are Roland Barclay, Chief Electrical Inspector; Ron Rahaman, Engineering Coordinator, Work Service Group; Ronald Charles, Special Project Officer II; Kevin Samad, Chief Sea & River Defence Officer; Ankar Doobay, Director, Aviation Safety Regulation; and Morsha Johnson-Francis, Electricity Regulatory Advisor to the Minister.
Wentworth Tanner, Director of Social Services is the lone Ministry of Social Protection official to be named.
Stabroek News was unable to ascertain how many of these persons have since submitted declarations to the Integrity Commission.
The first list was published in November last year and contained 87 names, inclusive of 15 ministers, the Speaker and opposition Members of Parliament. The second list, which was published shortly after, contained the names of 80 defaulting Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) officials and the third, which was published on December 8th, included the names of errant regional officials in all ten administrative regions.
The fourth list contained the names of 60 names, including that of Bank of Guyana Governor General Dr, Gobind Ganga, Audit Director (ag) Audrey Badley and councillors from nine of the ten Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs). This list was published on January 13th.
Some of the errant officials had claimed that they submitted their forms prior to the publication of the lists with their names.
The Integrity Commission Act states that the Commission or the President, as the case may be, shall receive, examine and retain all declarations and documents filed with it or him under the Act and make such enquiries as it or he considers necessary in order to verify or determine the accuracy of the financial affairs, as stated in the declarations of persons who are required to file declarations under the Act.
It states that those officials who fail to submit their declarations or submit declarations that are false or incomplete shall be liable, on summary conviction, to “a fine of twenty-five thousand dollars and to imprisonment for a term of not less than six months nor more than one year, and where the offence involves the non-disclosure, by the declarant, of property, which should have been disclosed in the declaration, the magistrate convicting the person shall order the person to make full disclosure of the property within a given time and on failure to comply with the order of the magistrate within the given time, the said offence shall be deemed to be a continuing offence and the person shall be liable to a further fine of ten thousand dollars for each day on which the offence continues.”
