A Bill establishing a first-ever Integrity Commission for The Bahamas (known as the Bill for An Act to Provide for the Establishment of A Body To Be Known as the Integrity Commission (Long Form) will be among one of several bills to be tabled in the House of Assembly on Wednesday (October 18, 2017).

Minnis Administration officials say the Bill seeks to accomplish a number of objectives, among them, promoting and enhancing ethical conduct for Parliamentarians, Public Officials and other persons; to provide measures for the prevention, detection and investigation of acts of corruption; and to repeal the Public Disclosures Act and provide for matters connected therewith.

(The amendment to the Public Disclosures Act is an attempt to broaden the scope of application to include campaign finance reform and to make for provision for direct referral to an Independent Prosecutor.)

The new Bill is part of the Minnis Administration’s proposed Anti-Corruption legislation and follows up on a promise contained in the Speech From the Throne (May, 2017) that the “government will enact and enforce anti-corruption legislation for all Parliamentarians and Public Officers.”

“The plan is to help to hold elected leaders, beginning with the Prime Minister, public officials and government employees accountable to the people they serve,” Press Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Mr. Anthony Newbold said Tuesday, during his weekly Press Briefing.

“The Bills establishing the Integrity Commission and the Ombudsman Bill will be part of what we will call the Anti-Corruption Package.”

The Ombudsman Bill is part of the Government’s package that will introduce a system of recall for “non-performing Members of Parliament.” This legislation was also foreshadowed in the Speech From The Throne.

The Office of Ombudsman will be created to provide a direct source of relief where people have legitimate grievances due to the actions, or inactions, of government or any agency of government.

Press Secretary Newbold said Wednesday’s sitting of the House of Assembly will also focus on debate on a Bill for An Act to Amend the Constitution of The Bahamas to provide for the Establishment of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and for Matters Connected Thereto (Long Title.)

The Short Title is the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2017. By virtue of the creation of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, this Bill seeks to confer all powers relating to criminal prosecutions previously vested in the Attorney-General, to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The establishment in law of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, as with the two aforementioned Bills, was part of the legislative package promised in the Speech From the Throne in May.

Certain functions now being performed by the Office of the Attorney-General, such as the power to issue a Fiat authorizing commencement of legal action in sensitive matters, or a Nolle Prosequi, will be transferred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

“Among other things, the introduction of this Bill is an attempt to remove any potential conflict where a political appointee is allowed to decide who will, or will not, be prosecuted,” Press Secretary Newbold said.

“We have all seen the fall-out from the Nolle Prosequi’s issued in the last five years. The country does not need any more of that,” Press Secretary Newbold added.

By Matt Maura

Bahamas Information Services