WITH only one week to go before the deadline for submission of assets and liabilities declaration forms, only 17 per cent of public leaders have complied with the requirement.
The Ethics Secretariat Commissioner, Retired Justice Harold Nsekela, categorically stated that there would be no deadline extension, and so the remaining 83 per cent must do so within the timeframe or appear before ethics councils for sanctions.
Speaking to reporters here yesterday, Justice Nsekela expressed dismay over the poor response in the submission of the forms in question, saying out of 13,699 leaders, only 2,369 had made submissions by December 20.
He stressed that the leaders should fill in accurate details of their assets and liabilities in the 18-page form. “Filling the form in a last minute rush and under pressure is not a good thing and may in most cases result in skipping vital details.
We must strive for truth and integrity when undertaking the task,” he stressed.The commissioner said the thrust was to implement the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act, No. 13 of 1995 (Chapter 398), specifically to monitor the ethical behavior and conduct of public leaders.
Justice Nsekela noted that filling in the declaration form was mandatory for every public leader stated in the Public Leadership Code of Ethics Act, as it is a legal and constitutional requirement.
He explained that fastgrowing economic development can be attributed to ethics adherence, and as such, failure by public leaders to submit declaration forms was compromising the efforts.
“Leaders must be guided by the rule of law without force or pressure and so submission of the declaration forms must be done in accordance with the rules.
Those who fail to meet the deadline should not blame anyone, as we have been issuing reminders periodically,” he stated.
The commissioner noted that he had been sharing information on promotion and enforcement of ethical principles and ethics which are obligatory requirements to be observed by all public leaders in the course of implementing their official responsibilities as per the Public Leadership Code.
The aim of imposing the principles is to enhance public confidence of the integrity of public leaders in the government’s decision-making process.
