If you want to find out whether a candidate for the next Bermuda election will truly do something meaningful to reduce Government corruption, simply ask him to sign the following anti-corruption pledge. ( A downloadable copy is set out here Anti-Corruption Pledge.) If he refuses to sign the pledge, you’ll have a pretty good idea of whether he is one of the good guys or simply another weak enabler of corruption.
Anti-Corruption Pledge
The undersigned, being an electoral candidate for a seat in the Bermuda House of Assembly, here pledges that, if elected, I will do everything within my power to immediately enact:
- Legislation that gives the Auditor General administrative subpoena power to obtain access to the bank records, files, share registers and all other documents and data of every Government contractor and their affiliates (to better ensure there are no kickbacks to persons in power);
- Legislation that requires the inclusion in every Government contract for capital projects and procurement of goods and services in excess of $10,000, a legal undertaking by the contractor to provide the Auditor General with access to all of the bank records, files, share registers and all other documents and data of the contractor and its affiliates (to better ensure there are no kickbacks to persons in power);
- Legislation that requires each contractor tendering on a Government contract in excess of $10,000 to disclose, by way of sworn affidavit posted on the Government’s website, each of its directors, officers and direct and indirect beneficial shareholders and those of its affiliates (so that the people of Bermuda will be able to see who is benefitting from Government contracts);
- Legislation that requires each member of the House of Assembly and the Senate to disclose, by way of sworn affidavit posted on the Government’s website, all of his or her direct and indirect beneficial interests in any company, trust, partnership or business along with an undertaking to update such disclosure within seven days of any change in such beneficial interests (to ensure any potential conflicts of interests of elected officials are fully disclosed to the public);
- Legislation that requires, in respect of every Government capital project in excess of $10,000, that the Ministry of Finance place on the Government’s website disclosure of every change order in excess of $3,000 along with a written reason why the change order was made, why it was not included in the original specifications, whether the change order was put out for separate tender, the name of the Government employee or elected official who approved the change order, and the amount of increased costs resulting from the change order (so the Bermuda public can see whether their money is being spent efficiently); and
- Legislation that requires the Ministry of Finance to place on the Government’s website a copy of every personal expense report and every back up receipt submitted by an elected official on his or her personal Government expense account (so the people of Bermuda can see the extent to which elected officials are spending taxpayers’ money on personal items).
Dated this ____ day of __________ 2012
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(signature of electoral candidate)
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(printed name of electoral candidate)
