OVER the years, hundreds of people in public life have failed to file annual declarations and statements as required under the Integrity in Public Life Act. This year is no exception.
The Integrity Commission last month released its latest catalogue, informing the public of all the officials who have not filed for the last four years (each year, a filing must be made covering the previous year).
As usual, the officials listed come from all walks of political life and all levels of government: from non-partisan board appointees to MPs; from public servants to cabinet ministers.
What is notable about the list, however, is its length.
It was only a few months ago that the commission announced a kind of crackdown on non-compliance. In September, it disclosed it had intensified the process of lodging
ex-parte applications to the High Court seeking orders to compel the recalcitrant to file.
Such applications have been made in the past. In 2020, a total of 23 orders were sought. But the commission this year disclosed it had made a whopping 150 applications, with more likely on the horizon.
This frenzy of enforcement action seemingly did little to make public officials any more compliant, as evidenced by the lengthy list published last month.
Why have so many failed to file?
One official said they picked up the forms very late from their respective government department. However, the forms have been available online for free download for many years now.
Another official blamed the disruption of the covid19 pandemic. But the pandemic did not appear to hinder any of this official’s colleagues.
These politicians might not have filed their statements of interests, but in so doing they have made a declaration, a startling one: they no longer regard compliance with the law as an urgent matter. The country is witnessing nothing short of a subversion of our Constitution.
The Integrity Commission is established by our supreme law.
Widespread non-compliance puts the commission in an unenviable position of having to file hundreds of legal proceedings. Are officials counting on their sheer number to shield them from sanction?
Ironically, financial checks and controls on ordinary citizens have never been more stringent. Some of these regulations have been promulgated by the very politicians who now flout the law. These politicians routinely climb onto soapboxes decrying corruption, when filing their own paperwork would be a sure way to personally commit to transparency and integrity.
We hold no brief for the commission, which has been beset by controversy after controversy.
But if politicians wish to bring about constitutional reform, then they should do so openly and with the people’s sanction, not by tacitly deciding among themselves to subvert the law.
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