THE DEMOCRATIC Coalition for Change (DCC) government remains united in its plan to adopt the Anti Corruption Bill.
Special Secretary to Prime Minister, Andrew Muaki said reports of a division within the government were fabricated.
Mr Muaki earlier said the Anti-Corruption Bill 2016 reflects Democratic Coalition for Change (DCC) Government signature policy to address incidents of perceived corruption in the country.
Therefore, Muaki said it is a very important piece of legislation that addresses issues that hinders economic development in the nation.
“The Bill does not target any specific sections of our community and it defines what is corruption and what is not corruption.
“Unfortunately we are accustomed the term ‘corruption’ that its strict legal meaning gets lost in our everyday conversation,” he said.
Mr Muaki said this breeds misleading information about the Anti-Corruption Bill and its humble objectives and the policy reasons behind having such a Bill.
“The Bill will become law only after it is passed and gazetted.
“It will not apply retrospectively as suggested by some commentators,” he added.
Chairman of the Parliamentary Bills and Legislation Committee, Connelly Sandakabatu said they are expected to scrutinise the Anti-Corruption Bill 2016 and Whistleblowers Protection Bill 2016 next Tuesday as possible.
Mr Sandakabatu said his Committee had requested the Prime Minister’s Office through a check list to give his Committee supplementary information on the two new Bills.
“For instance, what are the report background information of the Bills, how they were drawn up, the consulted report on the bills, who were consulted to get views and so on” he explained.
“This will give us a broader understanding of the background to the Bills so that it gives the Committee members good information as to what background and what exactly is the aim so that we can do our job well as a committee scrutinizing the Bills” Sandakabatu said.
He said his committee expected the sponsor of the bill, the Office of the Prime Minister to provide them the information yesterday.
The BLC has already called for written submissions from individuals, groups and organizations who wish to express their views, knowledge or experiences on these 2 new Bills that are now before parliament as well.
They will then collect these submissions as evidences of its inquiry into the Bills and present them in a report to Parliament.
The 4th meeting of Parliament is set to convene on Tuesday.
By EDDIE OSIFELO
