Just say the word corruption and almost everyone can cite an example of it in public life, from entry level jobs right up to the very top of the public administration pyramid. There’s hardly any denying that corruption is widespread – but how to stop it is a question for which there are few practicable answers. That’s where the Inter-American Convention against Corruption comes in. Today the OAS hosted a workshop to review a 115 page draft Action Plan for Belize. It’s a lot of paperwork pledges, and Jim McFadzean found out how much of it is implement-able.

Jim McFadzean Reporting,
Speaking at today’s opening of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, the Minister of Economic Development and Local Government John Saldivar ,spoke about the governments’ efforts at addressing corruption at all levels of the public service:

Hon. John Saldivar, Minister of the Public Service
“Belize has adopted measures which criminalize the acts of corruption provided for by Article 6 of the Convention. We have introduced and passed laws including the Finance and Audit Reform Act and Revised Stores and Financial Orders. Very soon a new fiscal transparency legislation will be introduced which will have stiff penalties and prison time for politicians and public officers who are convicted of trying to make off or make off with the people’s money. The Prime Minister in his Independence Day speech to the nation said that the government will go to all lengths to improve its corruption fighting infrastructure and pursue official wrongdoings.”

Belize’s public officers are already governed by a code of conduct, which is established in both the Constitution of Belize and in the Public Service Regulations, whose provisions are addressed and defined in legislation such as the Prevention of Corruption Act 2007. However, one of the salient recommendations of the draft is that, “Belize should consider strengthening the implementation of the provisions on conflicts of interest and ensure that the laws are applicable to all public officials and employees.”

The Committee of Experts have expressed that while the standards in the Prevention of Corruption Act of 2007 are relevant for advancing the purposes of the Convention, it notes an absence of conflict of interest standards regulating the activities in which former public servants may engage after leaving government service.

The committee recommends that Belize establish a standard for addressing conflicts that can occur between individual specific government matters in which those persons that perform public functions would be expected to act as a part of their responsibilities and an official’s or family member’s financial interests or his outside activities or negotiations for future private employment arrangements.

Saldivar says today’s efforts sponsored by The OAS in conjunction with the Attorney General’s office could not have come at a more opportune time, in the wake of Belize’s law enforcement agencies coming under a barrage of allegations of abuse and corruption.

Hon. John Saldivar,
“We have considered and adopted certain measures to establish maintain and strengthen standards of conduct designed to prevent conflicts of interest and mechanisms to enforce them as well as standards of conduct to ensure the proper consultation and use of resources entrusted to government officials in the performance of their functions and enforcement mechanisms.”

The Plan of Action introduced and presented over the course of the next two days to the participants, is expected to be modified and finalized by incorporating the input from this national workshop. Reporting for Seven News, I’m Jim McFadzean.

Today’s workshop had the participation of representatives from civil society, government agencies, the judiciary, legislature, private sector, and international funding agencies.