Opposition Parliamentarians will be the first group of persons in public life to declare income, assets and liabilities to the Integrity Commission for the new year.

Thirteen members of parliament made up of elected representatives, senators as well as the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives and are expected to lodge their documents with the Commission on January 26, 2023, beginning at 9am.

Among the opposition members receiving notices to file, more than half have filed declarations before so this would not be a new process for them. 

Approximately six months after assuming office Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell along with his cabinet, elected representatives and senators were invited to file their Declarations. Thirteen of the sixteen persons invited to file then, have since declared their assets. The Office of the Integrity Commission will determine when the remaining three, who requested extensions, will be given future dates for filing.

The Integrity Commission, which was set up by an Act of Parliament in 2013 has as one of its mandates to “…obtain declaration of the assets, liabilities, income and interest in relation to property of persons in public life…” Integrity in Public Life Act N^o. 24 of 2013. The Commission began receiving Declarations in 2014, shortly after its offices were set up.

To date the Commission has received a total of one thousand, two hundred and fifty-eight (1,258) declarations from persons in public life from the following categories: Ambassadors and High Commissioners, Finance Officers, Permanent Secretaries, Senior Officers of Ministries and Departments, Heads of Statutory Bodies, Law Enforcement, and Parliamentarians.