Monday 3 June, 9am – Marriot

It is a pleasure for me to be standing before you today as Cayman hosts the 5^th 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 5^th Annual Conference of the Commonwealth Caribbean Association of Integrity Commissions and Anti-Corruption Bodies open.