Gordon pledges to get the job done

New chairman of the Integrity Commission Kenneth Gordon says he is committed to getting the job done. Gordon said that during an interview, after a brief address at yesterday’s anti-corruption conference hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI) at Hilton Trinidad. Asked what he hoped to bring to the commission, Gordon said: “A commitment to get the job done. “Can’t give you anything more than that, a commitment to get the job done,” he added. Told that the last three chairmen of the Integrity Commission had to resign before the scheduled expiration of the term in office, Gordon said: “We must recognise that you live in a very fierce media world now and it is extremely difficult for people to be totally on guard with everything that they say...nonetheless, those are the standards by which they must be judged.

“In my own view, the people we’ve lost are excellent people but there is no point going back there,” he said. “You might yet be speaking to another chairman in another couple of months, who knows?” He said it was very difficult to say whether corruption had increased or decreased in the past several years. He quickly added that based on newspaper reports and the commissions of enquiry, “all these things leave an impact on you which may not be necessarily consistent with what is happening concurrently.” Gordon noted that there was a lot in the newspapers about crime in T&T and that could give the impression it was worse. “I am not sure that it is worse, I am really not sure from my layman’s off-the-cuff assessment,” he insisted.

Gordon said journalists should continue to do their job in reporting the facts on all matters relating to the commission or corruption. He said the commission was about to commence a programme in schools with respect to integrity matters. He said that was a very good initiative “because young people have got to be oriented to right and wrong and from an early stage.” Gordon said he could not comment on other matters relating to the work of the commission until he was briefed. He also advised that the commission operates on an oath of secrecy. He promised to do all he can to ensure results are achieved from the work of the commission. “I promise you we will look into why you are not getting results,” Gordon said.