The Organisation of American States Anticorruption Mechanism (MESICIC) says it carried out a successful on-site visit to St. Vincent and the Grenadines on April 24.
The visit was carried out by representatives from Panama and St Kitts and was also supported by the Department of Legal Cooperation of the OAS General Secretariat.
During the three days of the visit, the representatives reviewed, on-site, the principal oversight bodies responsible for combating corruption in SVG.
Meetings were held with the senior officers of the Attorney General’s Chambers, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Office of the Director of Audit, and the Service Commissions Department of the Public Service Commission.
Also, the representatives had the opportunity to meet with civil society and private sector organisations to address cooperation issues between them and public institutions in the fight against corruption; citizen participation mechanisms; and access to public information.
The results and information obtained from this visit are part of the review process currently being conducted by the MESICIC with respect to SVG, which will conclude with the adoption of a country report by that Mechanism’s Committee of Experts at its meeting in September this year, to be held at OAS headquarters.
The MESICIC is a cooperation mechanism between states, with the participation of civil society organisations, established within the framework of the OAS, in which the legal/institutional framework of each country is reviewed for suitability with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption as well as the objective results achieved therein. The incorporation of on-site visits as a stage and integral part of the MESICIC represents an innovative and pioneering initiative of the OAS, which, with the support of the Technical Secretariat, has further strengthened this review process.
This is a mouth full! Will a report be published later, so citizens know what’s happening to the society? Was this done because MESICIC knows what taking place to SVG nationals who disagree with this government? I am sure MESICIC representatives didn’t come here for the 3 S’s (sun, sea and sand).