Monday 3 June, 9am –
Marriot

It is a pleasure for me to be
standing before you today as Cayman hosts the 5th
Annual CCAICACB Conference. The Cayman Islands have made great
strides towards developing and implementing policies within the civil
service and strengthening our integrity oversight bodies over the
last few years.

Whilst the Commission for
Standards in Public Life awaits the implementation date for the
Standards in Public Life Law it does not sit idle, as evidenced by
its involvement in hosting this week’s conference. Spearheaded by
the Chair, Mrs. Rosie Whittaker-Myles, and current members Ms.
Sheenah Hislop and Ms. Isatou Smith, the Commission continues to seek
ways to carry out its constitutional remit of preventing conflicts of
interest and corruption in the public service. Outside of this
conference the Commission’s latest initiative involves the
dissemination of a United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
educational programme – Education 4 Justice. This programme seeks
to promote a culture of lawfulness, with modules specifically
addressing corruption and integrity, amongst our primary, secondary
and tertiary students at local private and public educational
institutions.

Furthermore, the
Anti-Corruption Commission, a sibling to the Commission for Standards
in Public Life, remains a strong and active oversight body, having
received 166
reports since its inception with numerous arrests, convictions and
ongoing investigations.

A Whistleblower Policy was
affected for the civil service in 2017, which supports the
confidential reporting of wrong-doing by public officials, whilst the
Whistleblower Protection Law came into effect in 2018. The civil
service now also has the ability to utilize a whistleblower hotline
staffed by an overseas office, empowering civil servants to
confidentially and safely report suspected fraudulent activity.

The civil service policies
are all a part of the Deputy Governor’s comprehensive Anti-Fraud
Policy from 2017, which includes other provisions for codes of ethics
and conduct, offering and receiving gifts, and information
management. This conference, therefore, comes at an opportune time
for the Cayman Islands to intensify its enhancement of the ethical
integrity of its public bodies.

I now officially declare the
5th
Annual Conference of the Commonwealth
Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption
Bodies open.