Suspect leaders ‘not bound to step aside’

By KEVIN PAMBA
LEGAL adviser to the Electoral Commission, Prof John Nonggorr said last Friday that public office holders under criminal investigation and prosecution by police were not legally obliged to step aside.
But Prof Nonggorr said they must step aside on ethical grounds.
The constitutional law expert made this observation when elaborating on the difference between ethics and the law during the 7th annual Ethics Symposium of Divine Word University’s Faculty of Business and Management.
He said the fact that the leaders were being investigated or prosecuted cast doubts on their integrity as public office holders in the eyes of the public and they must step aside.
“Ethically, that person (public office holder under investigation) should step aside regardless of what the law says,” he said.
He said by law, they were not obliged to step aside as a competent court of law had to prove them guilty or innocent first.
“Often people say ‘until I’m found guilty I will not step aside’,” he said, adding that “this was ethically wrong”.
He said in the eyes of the public, a person under investigation or prosecution was under the cloud and he or she must step aside.
Prof Nonggorr said the Leadership Code, however, compelled leaders under investigation for alleged breaches of the code, to step down.

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