IC head: Citizens must obey the law

THREE secondary schools in south topped the Integrity Commission’s 2018 poster design project, on Integrity and Ethics. David Ramlakhan from San Fernando East Secondary placed first and Dylan Samaroo from Naparima College placed second. Rebekah Beepat of Debe Secondary School came third.

Addressing the students yesterday at the prize-giving at the National Library, Port of Spain, chairman of the Integrity Commission Justice Melville Baird called on adults to obey the law.

“We can begin in small ways, bearing in mind that the seemingly minor things can be very important. It is accepted that small infractions of the law can latter lead to big infractions of the law.”

While praising students who participated in the competition, Baird also acknowledged 15-year-old Duane O’Connor – 2018 TUCO Calypso Monarch– and Leon Reyes, 14, who both displayed profound integrity, he said.

Baird said children are indisputably paragons of integrity and they are qualify to be exemplars for the nation in general. He said young people play a pivotal role in TT.

“In Duane’s case, although art was the vehicle, the form was music, his lyrics of his winning calypso are inspiring, motivating and educative. The Integrity Commission hopes that as one facet of its anti-corruption drive the connective tissues of art would assist in the process of integrity permeating and saturating society as a whole.

“We now come to Leon Reyes. In his case he expressed his understanding of integrity in action, not art. How many adults in TT would have found a wallet filled with money and, without touching the contents, would have taken it to the nearest police station? How many adults in TT would have done that?

“This is delicious irony: young children setting the example for adults.” He said the integrity of Reyes was without boundaries, and Reyes was a credit to his family, his school, his community and his country.