Transparency boss opens ethics conference

(CNS): Dr Huguette Labelle, from Transparency International, opened the much anticipated UCCI conference Wednesday evening  in the Vassel Johnson Hall on the university campus in George Town. Open to the community, this year’s conference "Towards a Corruption-Free Caribbean: Ethics, Values, Trust and Morality" is expected to attract a broad and significant audience as the issue of corruption in the region’s communities is examined from all angles. Dr Labelle is the boardchair at Transparency International, which works in more than 100 countries in the fight against corruption. 

Professor Trevor Munroe, the executive director at National Integrity Action of Jamaica chaired the opening session.

The bulk of the action gets underway Thursday morning when Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s finance minister, gives an account of her country’s experiences with corruption and the lessons for the Caribbean. The session will be chaired by Cayman’s own government number, cruncher Marco Archer, the minister for finance and economic development.

Following that, the Cayman Islands premier will be joined by regional heads of for a Plenary Round Table session. Alden McLaughlin will join Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and, representing the Premier of Bermuda Cheryl-Ann Lister, Chair, the National Anti-Money Laundering Committee (NAMLC),  Anti-Corruption Assessment and Strategies in the Region.  The session will be chaired by Samuel Bulgin, the Cayman Islands Attorney General with remarks from Dan Scott, the regional managing director of EY.

Many other regional and local leaders, academics, experts and government representatives will be taking part in the conference giving papers and talking on panels and plenary sessions covering the pervasive nature of corruption throughout both the public and private societies.

From medicine to sport and everything in between, CNS’ reporter Wendy Ledger will also be taking part in the conference during  a session on Thursday evening examining the media as an anti-corruption instrument.