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PHILIPSBURG--Government "embraces" the recommendations of the Wit-Samson Report on Integrity in Government to "99.9 percent," says Justice Minister Dennis Richardson. "In general, I can say we have embraced that report nearly in its entirety. There are a few issues that need further study," he said.

The Council of Ministers has formulated its response to the forty recommendations from the Wit-Samson Committee and is expected to publish this soon.

Richardson said Government is satisfied that the report found "no connection" between government and the "underworld," which was one of the concerns and motivations for the Kingdom Government to instruct Governor Eugene Holiday to conduct a similar integrity investigation into the workings of government.

One of the most important recommendations is the establishment of an integrity chamber. Government welcomes that recommendation from the committee, because the current Wescot-Williams III Cabinet had said it was "embarking on an auditing of government actions and judicial certifications," said the minister. A chamber as suggested by the committee will "re-enforce" the cabinet's position.

The integrity chamber would be able by law to investigate decisions taken by the Government and work as a preventative organ against integrity breaches.

The Council of Ministers approved its response to the Wit-Samson Integrity Report on Tuesday, Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams told the press. She said the "point-for-point reaction" to the 40 recommendations of the report was already in process when the report was leaked to the press on Tuesday. The Council had hoped to approve the response last week, but this did not occur.

She and Richardson see the release of the report to the print media as a good thing for government. They said this means that the media can now focus on Government's response to the recommendations, instead of the report itself.

Government's response and the integrity report will be forwarded to Governor Eugene Holiday, Parliament, and the Kingdom Council of Ministers. The report and response are also to be put into a government resolution and published for public perusal.

The three-prong declaration of assets and commitment by ministers is one of the procedures Government will review in favour of adopting the Curaçao approach of intensive screening prior to a minister taking office. This was a recommendation of the committee. The St. Maarten procedure, at present, is candidate-ministers submitting declarations for the screening process followed by another declaration after taking office and yet another upon demitting office.

Wescot-Williams said all three declarations have not been submitted by all past ministers.

Parliament has been informed this week by Prime Minister that none of the ministers of the Wescot-Williams I and Wescot-Williams II cabinet submitted all the declarations. Only three ministers of the second cabinet submitted the exit declaration upon demitting office.

All ministers of the current Wescot-Williams III cabinet have submitted their declarations. These were submitted in September 2013 to the Clerk of the Court, while the declaration of the Prime Minister has been sent to the Advisory Council. The third cabinet took office in June 2013.

Wescot-Williams said she informed Parliament in her letter that she was not making an "excuse" for the declarations not being filed, as it's her responsibility. However, she said she pointed out that both Parliament and Government "were finding their way" in the new laws that came into place upon the attainment of country status on 10-10-10.