Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 18, 2024 (SKNIS): The suite of good governance legislation passed in 2023, in the St. Kitts and Nevis National Assembly, has been highly rated by Adlai Smith, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The suite of legislation entails the Anti-Corruption Act, the Whistleblowers Protection Act, the Freedom of Information Act, the Integrity in Public Life Act, the Unauthorized Disclosure of Official Information Act.
In comparison to the other island states within the Caribbean, Mr. Smith said that the Anti-Corruption laws within the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis are by far the best he has seen.
“The Anti-Corruption Act, when I had a look at that bit of legislation earlier this year, to my mind, it is one of the most comprehensive bits of anti-corruption legislation that I've seen,” he said. “I have had a look at Antigua, Grenada, Turks and Caicos, Barbados, Jamaica and so on and at the time I did not see any quite as comprehensive as St. Kitts and Nevis,” said Mr. Smith during his appearance on the debut of the second season of ‘InFocus’ on January 17.
The DPP added that the Federation’s Whistleblower Protection Act is a mechanism put in place to counter wrongdoing and promote proper, effective and efficient operation of public service.
He continued saying that the Whistleblower Protection Act also allows persons to feel comfortable in coming forward with information. He said, “There is always some consequence to interfering with the [money], they try to make your life very difficult, so the idea behind this Act is to create protections, so that no sort of negative consequence can be visited upon you if you make a protected disclosure on the Act.”
“That is really good because I do not see how one can pass anti-corruption legislation without that important component to go alongside it. Without whistleblowers, we'll never find out about corruption,” he stated.
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