An Integrity Commission will be established in Barbados.
This disclosure came today from Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, who said that the journey to an Integrity Commission had been a “tortuous one”. She was speaking during a press conference at Ilaro Court.
Providing the rationale for the Commission, Ms. Mottley said after the Integrity In Public Life Act is proclaimed, there must be a set of persons to “whom people can submit their declarations and who can supervise”.
The Prime Minister mentioned that the Commission will have a High Court Judge as the Chairman, an attorney-at-law, a chartered accountant, a member of the clergy, and two individuals, each appointed by the Prime Minister and the President. She explained that these persons now have to be appointed and then there would be need for staff, who will “follow the functions of the entity”.
“… We have to decide what are those posts that would be needed to run this Commission. We then have to go and advertise for those posts. And we then have to let them come in and run and set up all the rules and all of the ways of operation. I’m carrying you through this process, so that the media won’t ask me in three …or six months’ time what has happened, because this is a step-by-step process,’’ she noted.
Ms. Mottley said after that process is completed there will be “a comprehensive period of public education” because a change is being made to how a number of people have to operate in this country, “from senior public servants to the political class, to the new judges, to the chairman of boards”.
“We believe that if you’re going to be faithful to ensuring that people don’t run away, … because when you start to understand what is required and the length of time and the public education, … we are going to do this in a way that makes it sustainable, and does not make a mockery of it,” she stated.
The Prime Minister added that prior to the passing of the Integrity in Public Life Act, Parliament had passed several pieces of legislation to strengthen the legislative framework to fight corruption in Barbados. These are: the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Anti-Corruption and Anti-Terrorism Act, the Public Procurement Act, the Public Finance Management Act, the Public Procurement Act, the Instrumentalities of Crime Act, and the Whistleblower Protection Act. Meanwhile, Ms. Mottley also mentioned the current situation being played out in the media in relation to the negotiations between Government and the owner of Savvy on the Bay. She stressed that regardless of the outcome of these discussions, “those vendors will stay where they are”.
Barbados Government Information Service