In recent years, public officials and other executives of state agencies have been coming under fire forPresident of the Guyana Bar Association, Christopher Ramquestionable decisions taken during the course of their duties.Recently, another scenario has crept in—that of officials receiving concessions like mining lands and other benefits while in office- some of them extravagant.In a number of cases, some of the officials in defending their questionable decisions said they were following instructions from the Government.While the decisions taken and the land and other concessions that the officials benefitted from might not have been illegal, the transactions have raised serious ethical and moral questions.Yesterday, Attorney-at-Law and President of the Guyana Bar Association, Christopher Ram, was of the firm belief that the urgent adoption of a Code of Conduct for public officials, which is in draft form at the moment, will solve of the dilemma facing the David Granger administration.Announced last year, the draft code is designed to spell out how officers should behave while in office.The David Granger administration has vowed to introduce measures and tighten up controls in Government and other state agencies to ensure transparency and reduce corruption.Government recently said that it will allow for more public input into the draft code before it is taken to the Cabinet of Ministers for approval. From there it will be taken to the National Assembly for adoption.“Our position (Bar Association) is that any Code of Conduct for public officials should be one that is legally enforceable. You cannot have a code that no one takes seriously because of an absence of penalties,” Ram said.He said that note was taken of report in Kaieteur News over the weekend in which Clerk of the NationalClerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock IsaacsAssembly,jerseys cheap nfl, Sherlock Isaacs, between 2012-2015, applied for and was granted over 40 blocks of mining lands, or over 50,000 acres.Isaacs, in defending the mining concessions, insisted that he breached no laws. He pointed out that Article 158(5) (c) of the Constitution is clear.“It does not prevent me, as Clerk of the National Assembly, from being in business.”As a matter of fact, the Constitution says that “An officer so appointed shall not, during his or her continuance in the Office of Clerk or Deputy Clerk, perform the functions of any public office …”The Constitution, Isaacs insisted, does not say that he cannot be a farmer or miner and cannot hold concessions for agricultural or mining purposes.“Also, I am of the opinion that the holding of the concessions by me does not give rise to a conflict of interest. Further, as far as I know, I have not contravened any code of conduct or other rules in relation to the Office of Clerk of the National Assembly.”A creature called BrassingtonAnother case that was hotly debated, recently, was that of Winston Brassington.Brassington headed the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) and the Privatisation Unit, two state agencies that spearheaded several transactions on behalf of the state that were questionable in its very nature.Several state properties were sold and transferred with questions about whether monies were paid. In someFormer NICIL head, Winston Brassingtoncases,Off White Nike Vapormax Release Date, there are indications that the properties were below market value.Brassington also overlooked a number of investments on behalf of the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic Government, among them the Berbice River Bridge and the Marriott Hotel. Both transactions saw little or no Parliamentary input.Brassington, in defending his actions, insisted that he was abiding by instructions from the Cabinet of Ministers – the government of the day.The previous administration had described Brassington as a creature of the Cabinet.There were recent, similar defence that no wrongdoings were involved in the granting of mining lands to high-ranking officials of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission.“We made some comprehensive recommendations. We are saying because of the situation that is prevailing, adopt the current draft Code of Conduct…you can always fine-tune it. We cannot delay any longer,” Ram urged yesterday.He said the recent cases make a strong argument for a working Code of Conduct that is in place.Earlier this month, Government said that it will continue to receive written comments on the draft Code of Conduct for Ministers of Government, members of the National Assembly and public office holders.Already,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, feedback has been received from the Guyana Bar Association and the Guyana Human Rights Association, among others.“In an effort to ensure a thorough and comprehensive code which benefits from the widest possible inpu