Cabinet has considered a draft code of conduct for ministers of government, members of the National Assembly and public office holders and it is now under active discussion which would continue at a Cabinet retreat next month, Minister of Governance Raphael Trotman said yesterday.
The code of conduct was prepared by Trotman and his staff and it covers issues of transparency and corruption.
He said they would have gone through codes of conduct in other countries and have “come up with something which we believe is suited to our particular Guyanese environment.”
“The code for the most part will address issues of misconduct in public office and that could be fighting, discharging a firearm, indulging in bribe taking, those are some of the features we have captured in this code of conduct,” the minister said at a press briefing yesterday.
He said they are still discussing whether it will be a moral code where the president retains the right to dismiss any minister who brings embarrassment to the government or whether, like in some countries, it would be tied to the Integrity Commission which would carry out the investigation and made recommendations.
“So we are still discussing sanctions,” he said.
The code of conduct was promised by the coalition government which had set itself to get it done within the first 100 days in office.
In the plan it was promised that the code would be established for parliamentarians, ministers and others holding high positions in public office and would include mechanisms for demitting office if in violation of the code.
Trotman had previously told this newspaper that the code would be made public at the end of the 100 days.
