Dear Editor,
I am shocked, maybe I should say appalled, and my ‘jaw dropped’ when I read the Ministry of the Presidency’s release, dated May 22, 2019, that President David Granger is not compliant with the Integrity Com-mission Act and has not fulfilled his obligations in filing his declarations.
This is the height of hypocrisy and it is the clearest manifestation of duplicity. It is a betrayal of the promised transparency and accountability and it is yet the clearest revelation of how hollow and insincere he and his Administration have been, as it relates to keeping their word.
Mr. President, please remember your word is your bond. Let your ‘yea’ be ‘yea’ and your ‘nay’ be ‘nay’.
What Guyanese have seen in the past four years is the APNU+AFC Coalition Government: disbanding the Integrity Commission Secretariat; taking actions to evict the Integrity Commission from its home in a building adjacent to State House; taking possession of the records of those who dutifully filed since the passage of the Integrity Commission Act; non-support for the motion tabled in the National Assembly by the PPP/C for declarations to the Integrity Commission to be made public; and a lack of leadership in ensuring that Coalition Government Ministers and other politically appointed public officials fulfill their statutory duty by filing their declarations with the Integrity Commission.
To be told today that the President “will file” is insulting to every law abiding citizen of this country.
Editor, it must also be noted that it was only after pressure from the Parliamentary Opposition for the establishment of the Integrity Com-mission and Parliamentary pressure, during the consideration of national budgets, that it was put in place.
In addition to the fact that President Granger has not complied with the law, the primary consideration in the minds of Guyanese is whether, when he does file, the declarations will accurately reflect his assets and liabilities. One also wonders, if this failure is a carryover from the days when President Granger sat in the National Assembly as Leader of the Opposition and did nothing to ensure his team also complied with the law.
Is President Granger aware that every gift that he receives, valued more than US$50, needs to be declared? Is he in possession of an itemized list of all gifts that he has received since assuming office as Head of State?
Maybe, a goodwill gesture to win the trust and regain the confidence of all Guyanese is for President Granger to not only file with the Integrity Commission, but to also make his declarations public.
Yours faithfully,
Bishop Juan Edghill,
People’s Progressive Party/
Civic (PPP/C) Parliamentarian
