The majority of Cabinet members of the CCM-led Nevis Island Administration filed their declaration of assets under the Integrity in Public Life Ordinance on Friday, but Premier Mark Brantley says the legislation has to be amended.
Premier Brantley hailed the move as an historic milestone in local politics, saying this is the first time in history that any government in Nevis has engaged in such dramatic fashion in promoting the principles of of good governance, openness and transparency.
The IPL Ordinance was passed unanimously in the Nevis Island Assembly in September 2013, however an Integrity Commission was not appointed until June 2018, and the three-member Commission, headed by Chairman Ricaldo Caines, began operations in June of this year.
According to the Premier the government will be taking the IPL ordinance back to the Nevis Island Assembly next week after concerns were expressed in some quarters about the scope of persons who would be required to declare their assets.
“I am very pleased that we have a government who has delivered Integrity in Public Life to the island of Nevis. We will be in the house shortly to make some amendments to that bill because we’ve had some concerns expressed about the width, the number of people who are covered and so we are going to look at that carefully because I think the original bill had like directors of departments etc, all the board members of statutory corporations etc. So we’re looking to see how we can cut that down a bit so that people do not feel put upon. As one person said to me for the little money they get as a board director for a statutory corporation it’s better they quit rather than expose themselves to all of that.
“We also feel that the penalties for the commissioners or anyone in that office disclosing anybody’s information, they should be increased and they should have the harshest possible penalties to ensure that the confidentiality of information is preserved. So we have some work to do there.”
The Integrity in Public Life Ordinance is intended to prevent corruption in public office and applies to politicians, other senior public servants and persons holding any office in a public corporation.