NATION NEWS: Bill ‘will show where we stand’ – Published 22 July 2023
Bill ‘will show where we stand’
If passed by senators, the reintroduced Integrity in Public Life Bill tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday will augur well for Barbados from an international perspective, says Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds.
Speaking after the 2023 iteration of the measure was introduced by Attorney General Dale Marshall, Symmonds said the new legislation will not just help prevent corruption locally once it gets the two-thirds majority vote in the Senate.
“An unequivocal message has to be sent not only within the shores of Barbados, but across the waters to all those lands with whom we do business and with whom we interact, that this Parliament and Government will be intolerant to the scourge of corruption; and that we are unequivocal about the potential damage both to the image of the country that can be caused by corruption and also to the confidence of investors as a whole,” the Senior Minister said.
The Member of Parliament for St James Central said integrity in public life had been a matter of concern for Barbadians for some time but with the legislation, once passed, Barbados will be taking its place at the table of the global community, with an arsenal of policy that enables the powers that be not only to properly promote the island as a jurisdiction, but also to stand as equals in the international community.
Impact on funds
He added that corruption always has an impact on the available funds a government could require to help develop the country. “Because it is so fundamental to the national development of this country, it must cease to be a matter of partisan political discord,” the attorney added.
Symmonds was critical
of those in Opposition politics in Barbados who he said had negative things to say when the bill was first brought in 2020.
“This piece of legislation has taken us through an extensive canvassing of the country. We secured passage once before in this chamber. It did not fail and fall because of the Government. It failed and fell because there are those who are independent, and there are those in Opposition who outnumbered the Government. The reality is the Government can do nothing if there are not enough votes to pass.”
He said this occurred despite the draft being taken to the Select Committee and also being passed in the House of Assembly unanimously. “That is the predetermined bias we have to overcome as a country.”
He also said the legislation was not the end all, and a national conversation should still be held about the way the country should go forward.
“The Barbados we want to build must be one where there is a truth about ourselves. This Government has much about which it does not boast, but much about which it should feel a sense of pride,” he said about the suite of legislation previously brought to the Lower House.
(BA)