MPs that missed declaration deadline should be disciplined beyond just naming and shaming them – this is the call by the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM).
MPs that missed declaration deadline should be disciplined beyond just naming and shaming them – this is the call by the Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM).
Director of PSAM (which is a Rhodes University initiative) Jay Kruuse has released a statement calling for serious action to be taken against 62 members of parliament who failed to make their annual declarations of interest on time.
They call upon the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members Interests to recommend to Parliament that serious action (beyond a mere reprimand and publication of implicated MPs names) be taken, especially in instances where MPs have repeatedly failed to account on time.
"Once again a considerable number of Members of Parliament (MPs) who are required to exercise oversight over the affairs of government failed to lead by example and make their annual declarations of interest on time," says Kruuse in the statement.
He calls attention to a Parliamentary statement issued on 16 October in which it was emphasized that “Members need to take the declaring of their financial interests very seriously”.
"It is obvious that several MPs don’t take their obligation to account seriously enough and have contravened the Code of Conduct," the statement continues. "It remains to be seen whether there are repeat offenders amongst the 62 implicated but if there are then far stronger action needs to be taken against them."
The statement refers to the Code of Conduct, which currently allows for the following penalties:
