Integrity Act should be wider

DESPITE stressing that the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 is not flawed in any way, Integrity Commission director Ronald Ramcharan hinted there should be other categories of public officials mentioned in the legislation. Speaking with Newsday following a luncheon hosted by the Rotary Club of Central Port-of-Spain at the Queen’s Park Oval, Ramcharan said: “I think there are people in public life who have not been mentioned but it is not that the Act is flawed.” He added that this was his personal opinion and not that of the commission. Last year, Government and the Opposition debated how wide the integrity net should and what categories of public officials should be included.

Under the current schedule of the Act, persons in public life include members of the House of Representa-tives, Government ministers, Tobago House of Assembly members and Board members of State enterprises and Statutory bodies as prescribed in accordance with Section 138 (2) of the Constitution. During his earlier address, Ramcharan said there was a symbiotic connection between the integrity of a society and its ethos (characteristic spirit or attitudes of a community) and Trinidad and Tobago was no exception. He said over time, TT had become a society which is reactive rather than proactive to corruption, government alone could not address the societal behaviours which could promote corruption in public life and “we (citizens) leave too much to chance.”

Questioning whether TT had developed sufficient mechanisms over time for tackling corruption in public life, Ramcharan declared: “The onus is on society to develop the ethos for ethics. “At any level, from the lowest to the highest, accountability is important.” He suggested that the process should start with religious bodies in TT, since religion is universal to all citizens. Referring to the provisions of the Act, Ramcharan said while the Integrity Commission had outlined certain core values which public officials must adhere to, “integrity is the final line” and all public officials must act “within the spirit and the letter of the law” in the performance of their duties. He said  ethical standards should be reflected in legal framework, and public servants must be aware of their rights when they expose wrongdoing. Ramcharan also touched on the need for transparency in areas such as public procurement.