Govt. hosts anti-corruption workshop for accounting officers, other technical staff

Jul 10, 2024 News

Kaieteur News – The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance on Tuesday hosted a workshop on ethical behaviour in the public service. The workshop hosted under the theme “Promoting Integrity and Effectiveness in Public Bodies and Authorities Responsible for Preventing Corruption,” formed part of a discussion toward developing best practices for tackling corruption within the public service.

Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira

The meeting which was held at the Savannah Suites of the Pegasus Hotel in Kingston is also part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to strengthen Guyana’s anti-corruption framework through the work of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance.

Addressing participants of the one-day workshop which included Permanent Secretaries and Regional Executive Officers (REOs), Procurement Officers, and other high ranking technical persons within the government agencies, Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira said the discussion is necessary to equip key officers within the public service with the information needed to address corruption- related issues such as preventing and managing conflicts of interest, detecting and handling corruption and unethical practices, ethics in auditing, and enhancing ethics in public procurement.

“At these workshops and programmers we are dealing with questions like what is corruption? How do reduce prevent it? Do the laws manuals guidelines are they sufficient or are there other areas like training and so forth” Teixeira said.

She added: “The discussion focused on developing the capacity of public officials to eliminate instances of corruption. It was held under the theme ‘Promoting integrity and effectiveness in public bodies and authorities responsible for preventing corruption.”

The Minister emphasised the need for anti-corruption mechanism to be in place so that high-ranking public servants are held accountable as they manage their affairs. This she said will lead to good governance and effective management of the systems.

“When you’re a politician [and] if you want to be elected, you have to be accountable to the people… that goes for permanent secretaries who hold power, as well as regional executive officers, overseers at the local government level, Toshaos at the Amerindian village council level, and the treasurers of that level,” the minister pointed out adding that part of the discussion is aimed at identifying mechanisms to prevent the abuse of public funds and strengthen State institutions so they can function more effectively.

A section of the anti-corruption workshop hosted at the Pegasus Savannah Suites on Tuesday

She noted that individuals in these positions have a moral obligation to ensure that citizens receive value for the money.

“We are now looking at how we develop capacity, what are the kind of training we need to do to make sure that every public servant who is at the highest level knows very well what the rules are…and [these are ones] that does not condone corruption,” Minister Teixeira emphasized.

The Minister reminded participants of the importance of abiding by the tenets of the Integrity Commission. She noted that the government is working on amending the Integrity Commission law to ensure that these individuals report as required and within the specified timeframe.

“We have to now reach a point where, as a government, as a public service, that we are holding ourselves to high standards,” the Parliamentary and Governance Affairs Minister stated.

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accounting officers, discussion, Gail Teixeira, Minister of Governance and Parliamentary Affairs, technical staff

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