Economist Dr Eric St Cyr is the new chairman of Trinidad and Tobago's new Integrity Commission that took office Monday. The others member are Gladys Gafoor, Deputy Chair; Neil Rolingson, Ann Marie Bissessar and Seunarine Jokhoo.
St Cyr is a former independent Senator who served from 1995 to 2000. He has also lectured at the University of the West Indies.
The country had been without an integrity commission for almost a year.
The problem developed shortly after a high court judge censured the commission for its handling of a matter involving Keith Rowley, who was a cabinet minister at the time that the commission investigated him.
Justice Maureen Rajnauth-Lee ruled that the Commission acted in bad faith in relation to Rowley, and was guilty of "the tort of misfeasance in public office".
She also found that based on the facts there was an unfair abuse of power by failing to give Rowley and his wife, Sharon, a hearing with regard to an investigation of the couple's Landate development in Tobago.
Read the story: T&T Integrity Commissioners quit
The problem got worse after President Max Richards appointed a new commission. On the day the new commissioners took office, one of them resigned, accusing the president of reneging on his word.
And within a week all members, of the commissioners resigned. Gafoor was one of them. She had been accused of continuing to receive cheques in her dead husband's name six years after he died.
According to reports, Gafoor listed Anthony Gafoor as her chauffeur and collected cheques issued in his name from October 1995 to October 2001. Anthony Gafoor died on September 13, 1995.
Read the story: Gafoor collected cheques in dead chauffeur's name: report
Related story: New Integrity Commission ready to work under cloud of controversy
Related story: Integrity commission ceases to exists; fifth commissioner to quit: Report
The absence of a Integrity Commission led to a constitutional suit against the President.
Last Thursday, the Chief State Solicitor wrote the High Court stating that President Max Richards had made arrangements to appoint a new commission.
The President of the Indo-Trinbago Equality Council (ITEC), Devant Maharaj, filed a constitutional motion in October 2009 claiming that his constitutional rights were being violated by the continuing failure and/or refusal by the President to appoint a new Integrity Commission.
Maharaj noted that he had several complaints pending before the commission and pointed out that his complaints could not be investigated in the absence of a commission.
His complaints included:
- discrimination by the state in the Maha Sabha Radio License Case
- discrimination against the Maha Sabha by refusing to grant permission for it to construct a Hindu Temple in Tobago
- the Failure of Commissioner of Police James Philbert to take action against the PNM for the political rally it held in Woodford Square on September 10th 2008 without permission
- the construction of a church in dubious circumstances where no Town and Country Planning permission was granted
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“In all things , preserve integrity. It is the first step in the long journey to life. Matter not the obstacles,stand fast to integrity. It is life’s measure.”
Homer –The Odyssey
Integrity is everything.
Principles may be inborn. Ethics, sometimes mandated. But integrity requires scourging moral courage, magnetized by a fervour for an ideal. The complete person is a union of unswerving integrity, pulsating energy, and rugged determination. And the greatest of these is integrity. A person with integrity is a majority.
It cannot be bought and it cannot be measured in money. It is a requisite in determining the fibre and character of an individual and an organization. Integrity demands that there be no twilight zone. Something is either right or it is wrong. Black, or it is white. There is no in between.
In an organization, integrity permeates every aspect of its activity. It demands a singleness of purpose, purged of compromise or the search for material gain. Some objectives change continually, sometimes over-night. But the integrity of an organization does not change with time, or mood, or because of circumstances. It means reflecting the highest principles. Always. A devotion to what is right and honest and just.
The measure of an organization is not recorded in its volume, its activities, or its growth – although integrity actuates all of these. But growth can change, flow and ebb with the tides of time. Integrity requires the stamina, the resourcefulness, and the daring of leadership. With it, an organization can accomplish all great things.
Integrity is the thread that binds the organization’s vision to its mission. It is the basis of an organization’s convictions, its standard of action.
To reflect integrity is to invite trust. To possess integrity is to command respect. Its presence is critical. It demands total loyalty, a commitment to cause, a dedication to mission, and unflagging determination. In an organization, the beacon of integrity must burn with brilliance – because it lights the way for all activities and actions.
Morals. Ethics. Standards. Integrity. From these flow a torrent of values. Deeds, not words. Not what you say you are. It is a clear case of what you do that speaks with such deafening impact.
Honesty isn’t the best policy. It is the only policy. An organization must pay the price. And the price is always work, patience, self-sacrifice. A devotion to a supreme purpose. And integrity that is unfailing and unyielding and unending. A rigorous test, this. For an individual and an organization, integrity isn’t a sometimes thing. Integrity is everything. Everything.
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