Members of the Integrity Commission yesterday expressed their support for chairman Ken Gordon, minutes after they were sworn in at the Office of the President in St Ann’s. President Anthony Carmona administered the oath of office to retired Justice Sebastian Ventour, Seunarine Jokhoo, Deonarine Jaggernauth and Shelly-Anne Lalchan shortly after 10.30 am. Among the invited guests were House Speaker Wade Mark and Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley. No reporters were allowed into the office because of limited space.
Mark emerged first from the ceremony. He was followed minutes later by Rowley, who noted it had been a while since there was an Integrity Commission and having a new commission appointed was “an improvement.” He said he was “quite happy” about the development. “There is a lot of work to be done, so I think a lot of the noise should settle down and get the work done,” he said.
In response to a question on the Section 34 e-mail probe, Rowley said he expected the commission to discharge its duties as required under the Constitution. He said it was not about personalities. Gordon emerged next saying it was “good to have a commission so we could get going again.” He said he was looking forward to the months ahead, adding the first meeting of the new commission would take place tomorrow at 3 pm. He said the priority of the commission was “to get organised.”
Questioned next about whether the integrity of the commission would have been diminished after his May 15 private meeting at his home with Rowley, Gordon said: “Integrity doesn’t come by a switch, it comes by performance.” Gordon said he wanted to tell citizens a new team was appointed and it was now time to get down to doing the job.
He was all smiles as he drove away yesterday. The term of the previous commissioners had expired since March 14. Gordon, who was appointed in 2011, has only completed half of his three-year term. He met with President Carmona on Monday, raising speculation about whether he had a future at the commission. He made no mention of the reason for that meeting during the brief interview yesterday.
Ventour was also asked to comment on his appointment. He promised to “do the best I can to serve the people of T&T.” Asked if he could work with Gordon, Ventour responded: “But why not, why not?” He then smiled as he departed. Jokhoo said he was happy to serve the country again as a commissioner. Asked if he could work with Gordon, Jokhoo replied instantly: “Oh yes, certainly.”
In response to another question he said: “The population has to look at itself and start erasing the standard of behaviour in the country, that is what they have to do.” Other members of the commission, Lalchan and Jaggernauth, did not take questions from reporters.