Kenya: Gibraltar MP Contests Report on Nairobi Meeting

14 October 2010
allAfrica.com

Gibraltar Member of Parliament Steven Linares, in a letter to AllAfrica, has contested the accuracy of a recent report on a meeting in Nairobi in which he was quoted on the issues of corruption and nepotism. He has issued the following response:

Putting the Record Straight

In the CPA Small Branches Conference held in the KICC Kenya on 12th September 2010, The Hon Steven Linares, LINARES (Note, not Blinares) a Member of Parliament from Gibraltar gave a presentation to delegates on how Gibraltar has strong safeguards to prevent corruption. He said that these safeguards were in relation to things like Procurement, Nepotism, Financial Services, and Embezzlement of Funds.

In relation to procurement he said that "Gibraltar has a tender system which protects corruption by being open and Members of Parliament could question Minister on this issue."

In relation to Nepotism it was difficult to have this, since we are a small community and everyone would notice and know about anyone being given a job or post in any government department or agency.

On Financial Services The Hon Steven Linares said that since Gibraltar is a member of the European Union and all EU Directives including those on financial services had to be passed by our parliament which meant that openness and accountability was demanded. On the issue of Embezzlement of funds it was virtually impossible of any minister or official to obtain funds since parliament debate and scrutinise every single penny that the Government has estimated it will spent. He also said that in order to obtain funds from government it had to be approved by the Treasury Department which is run by an independent Civil service.

The Hon Steven Linares mentioned in his presentation that there have been in the past malicious allegations by the media especially from our hostile Neighbour Spain and that as a Small State it is difficult to undo allegations which are not substantiated once it was published.

Therefore the article which is published above has been prepared by the Hon Steven Linares since it is a total misrepresentation of the facts of what was said in the Small Countries conference of the CPA and thereby Putting the Record Straight.

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