Public consultations continue in the North today on the Code of Conduct Bill which is before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights.

Committee Chair Alvick Maharaj says that there is a need to ensure that there is widespread public submissions given that the Bill will hold all public officials accountable under a newly established Commission.

In his submission, the Auditor General Ajay Nand notes that the proposed legislation needs some work to be more clear in its policies and definitive in its intent to ensure transparency.

In so far as changes, the AG suggests that the offices and officials which the Bill covers needs to be extended from its current listing of 64 positions.

“The various entities in which government has invested, their directors, their senior management and employees could come within the ambit of the Bill because they deal with monies of the public which are invested by government. So we thought if public monies are involved, they should be coming within the ambit of the Bill.”

It’s a sentiment that the National Federation Party shares, submitting to the committee that any organization in which government funds are used should be covered under the Bill.

The NFP as an example recommended that the Fiji Sugar Corporation and the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation be added to the list to include its executive management as well.