Attorney General Basil Williams, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, and Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Barton Scotland are among 74 public officials who have been identified as being delinquent in filing their declaration of assets for last year, according to the Integrity Commission.
Williams and Bulkan are two of 20 former Members of Parliament [Parliament was dissolved on December 30th] included on a list published by the commission in the Official Gazette yesterday afternoon. In fact, the only former MPs who remain delinquent are A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) members. Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs was also included on the list.
The list was not published in the local newspapers as was done in 2018, likely owing to the Integrity Commission’s persisting financial woes. The body’s Chairman Kumar Doraisami had told Stabroek News last year that financial constraints were preventing the commission from doing several things, including publishing the list of delinquent public officers.
The other ministers identified by the Commis-sion for not complying with their statutory duty to file their declarations are: Minister of Social Cohe-sion Dr George Norton, Minister of the Public Service Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, Minister within the Ministry of Communities with responsibility for Housing Annette Ferguson, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Karen Cummings, Minister within the Ministry of the Presidency with responsibility for Youth Affairs Simona Broomes, and Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture with responsibility for Rural Affairs Valerie Adams-Yearwood.
The other former MPs who were recorded as not yet filing their declarations are: Jennifer Wade, Rajcoomarie Bancroft, John Adams, Richard Allen, Mervyn Williams, Michael Carrington, Jermaine Figueira, Barbara Patricia Pilgrim, Donna Moothoo, Reynard Ward, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, and Audwin Rutherford.
Last month, Doraisami had revealed that 23 former APNU+AFC MPs, and three former opposition PPP/C MPs remained delinquent. He had declined to share the names. He was also asked whether the commission would accept an offer by Stabroek News and other newspapers to publish the list of persons who remain delinquent in the filing of their declarations free of cost. The offers were made after several complaints by Doraisami that the commission did not have sufficient funds to publish the list.
During the latter months of last year, Doraisami had also said that financial constraints had prevented his office from properly investigating the declarations made, and prosecuting persons who remain delinquent.
So far, just one list has been published. In 2018, the commission published several lists. Attempts to contact Doraisami yesterday to ascertain whether additional lists will be published were unsuccessful.
Persons from other State agencies who were identified in the published list yesterday for failure to declare assets were:
Ministry of Agriculture – Chief Technical Officer George Jervis; Head – Agricultural Project Cycle Unit Cecil Seepersaud; Chief Fisheries Officer Denzil Roberts; and former Principal Assistant Andrea Branford.
Ministry of Business – Director – Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission Dawn Holder-Cush.
Ministry of Communities – Permanent Secretary Emil McGarrell; Coordinator – Engineering Service, Naeem Khan; Principal Regional Development Officer Surendra Khayyam; Legal Officer Suzanne Bullen; and Public Relations Officer Danielle Campbell-Lowe.
Central Housing and Planning Authority – Chief Executive Officer Lelon Saul; Director of Operations Denise King-Tudor; Director of Projects Omar Naraine; Director – Community Development, Gladwin Charles; Head – Research, Policy, Planning and Evaluation, Lenise Tucker; and Public Relations Officer Iva Wharton.
Ministry of Education – Chief Planning Officer Evelyn Hamilton.
Ministry of Finance – Head – Regional Planning Division Miguel Choo-Kang; Deputy Director of System and Service Christopher Deen; Deputy Director of System and Service Othniel Browman; Manager – IFMIS Tricia Harry; and Head – Internal Audit Department Ajay Nathaniel.
Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs – Senior Social Worker – Hinterland Scholarship Students’ Dormitory, Rosamund Daly.
Ministry of Legal Affairs – State Solicitor/Public Trustee/Official Receiver Ayana Jennifer McCalman; Principal Personnel Officer Lisette Wills; and former Solicitor General Joycelin Kim-Kyte.
Ministry of Natural Resources – Advisor to the Minister Beverly Alert; and Director of Compliance Derrick Lawrence.
Ministry of the Presidency – Special Advisor to the President Dr Raymond Kirton; Senior Advisor to the President Robert H.O Corbin; Ministerial Advisor, Natural Resources, and Director – Department of Environment Ndibi Schweirs; Head – Political Division Frederick McWilfred; Immigration Support Services Carol Lewis-Primo; Head – Office of Climate Change Janelle Christian; Office Manager – Department of Energy Sharon Patterson; and Presidential and Press Liason Officer Mark Archer.
Department of Social Cohesion, Culture, Youth and Sport – Director of Dance – National Dance School Linda Griffith; Administrator (ag) – National Cultural Centre Megan Hazel; and Principal Assistant Secretary (F), Ermys Wilson.
Ministry of Public Health – Permanent Secretary Colette Adams.
Ministry of Public Infrastructure – Permanent Secretary Kenneth Jordan; Chief Executive Officer – Lethem Power Company, Thurston Semple; General Manager – Linden Electricity Company Inc Patrick Dublin; Chief Executive Officer – Mahdia Power and Light Company, Courtney Handy; Chief Executive Officer – Port Kaituma Power and Light Company Inc Shawn James; Chief Electrical Inspector Ronald Barclay; Engineering Coordinator – Work Services Group Ron Rahaman; and Aircraft Accident Investigator Paula McAdam.
Ministry of Public Telecommunications – Deputy Permanent Secretary Deborah McNichol-Williams.
Ministry of Social Protection – Permanent Secretary Lorene Baird.
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 30th June 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 declaration under subsection (I) or (2) shall give full, true and complete particulars of the assets and liabilities as on the relevant date, and the income during a period of twelve months immediately prior to the relevant date, of the person filling the declaration (whether the assets were held by that person in his own name or in the name of any other person) and of the spouse and children of such person to the extent to which such person has knowledge of the same,” it further states.
The Act further 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 this 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.”
