In keeping with its constitutional responsibilities, the Integrity Commission has published a list of a number of public officials who have failed to declare their assets last year and among those are a number of Ministers and former government parliamentarians.
According to the gazetted list, as of January 2020 a total of eight Ministers failed to declare their assets between July 2018 and June 2019.
These are Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams, Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan, and Culture Minister Dr. George Norton.
Other ministers include Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Karen Cummings, and Public Service Minister Tabitha Sarabo-Halley as well as Junior Minister Agriculture Valarie Adams-Yearwood and Minister Simona Broomes.
Meanwhile, a number of former Members of Parliament (MPs) from the government’s side were also included on the list.
Additionally, staff of the National Assembly were also not spared, as both Speaker of the House Dr. Barton Scotland and Clerk, Sherlock Issacs, were flagged.
Also included were Permanent Secretaries and technical officials from a number of state agencies and Ministries.
Only recently, Head of the Integrity Commission Kumar Doraisami had said that they did not have funds to publish delinquent public officials.
In response, some local newspapers had offered to publish the names free of cost.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Winston Jordan had pointed the Integrity Commission to the gazette, which could publish names for free.
The Integrity Commission Act says that all public officials must declare all assets in their names, as well as the assets of immediate family, every year.
