It's been a week of teacher-led reform. Earlier this week, we saw the election of the 13th. Senator, and today, we witnessed the swearing-in of the Integrity Commission. These are both initiatives that the teachers unyieldingly pushed for in their October 2016 strike.
And, so, today in Belmopan, this important body, dormant for the past 8 years, was re-activated. It's important because it exists to prevent corruption in public life, and to examine the assets and earnings of politicians - to make sure that they are not unjustly enriching themselves.
Today , the 7 members -five appointed by the Prime Minister and two by the Leader of the Opposition were sworn at the National Assembly Building in Belmopan - which is where the office is located.
Chairman Marilyn Williams, the Chairman, discussed the focus of the commission and its first order of business.
Marilyn Williams, Chairperson
"The importance of this now is that we now have a body that is charged with overseeing the behavior, activity of the people that are in public office. I want to be mindful to let you know that there was always an integrity commission office that had a secretary seated in there looking at the declaration that had been filed by some people. Now you have an integrity commission who is empowered by the act to take certain actions to do a more in-depth analysis than what the secretary was doing and to reach certain conclusions and then issue a certificate to say that this person's declaration was in compliance. It's more of an intense oversight now that there is a commission formed. One of the first things that is dealt with in the act is that fact of financial declarations that have to be filed. There is a deadline, I believe it is march however, the integrity commission does have the right under the act to grant extensions if it is necessary. The commission itself will look into the declarations that are filed. It's almost like a financial analysis of a financial statement to see whether what has been submitted makes cohesive sense meaning if you put something on line one does it concur with line ten or does it make sense for line ten? We will look at it as a whole. Then if we feel it is okay and it is compliant and then there is a certificate that is issued and that will be published in the gazette. The other task has to do with corruption, there are certain acts that I will not be able to define it all right at this point but there is certain behavior that the act defines as corruption and if a complaint is made with respect to someone behaving in violation of those sections, then the integrity commission has the authority to look into it, to investigate it, to call witnesses and to look into the issue as to whether yes indeed the person did violate the act or not. If we feel that they have then we prepare a package, we write it up and then we will forward it to the office of the director of public prosecutions."
So while the activation of this commission represents progress, will all these members really carry out their roles without political bias? We know that a few commission members are passionate supporters of their political parties or have close ties through relatives. Williams assured us that it does not play a role in decision making within the commission and that this membership setup works just fine.
Marilyn Williams, Chairperson
"The Prime Minister didn't appoint the other people, he appointed the members that are UDP, but then you have members from the opposition that was appointed by their party. So one cannot then turn around and scream unfairness if you have membership on the commission."
Courtney Weatherburne, 7News
"In terms of partisan connection, maybe members, they're not directly connected to a political party but maybe have spouses or close relatives that are a part, or that doesn't factor anything?"
Marilyn Williams, Chairperson
"It doesn't factor into anything. After all the decision is going to be made by those who are a member of the commission. If that person is swayed by their familial relationships, then that's on them. I would hope that both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in appointing the individuals that they appointed, would have taken into consideration what that individual will bring to the table and offer to the process."
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