Photo: James Marape
The Prime Minister has vowed to bring out past Commission of Inquiry (COI) reports and prosecute suspects recommended by these reports. These COI reports include the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) Loan inquiry, Department of Finance Inquiry, The inquiry into the Moti Saga, The national Provident Fund inquiry (Nasfund) and The Paraka case.
“There have been many inquiries conducted over the years. We will gather them from our file backrooms and address the issues as recommended. We stand committed to ensure that those findings are clearly addressed. We must ensure that those who have erred must account for their errors”.
“We must correct our people’s expectations on what is right and what is wrong. These actions will be taken swiftly as there is a public demand for actions to take place and for wrong doers to take responsibility for what they have done wrong”. The Prime minister said.
Prior to this, the Prime Minister also stated during his maiden speech when re-elected that corruption has spread throughout our society relentlessly.
“Our Government has supported funded and established the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC). We have passed the amendments to the Proceeds of Crimes Act. It is an economic concern that we are addressing, there is no point getting back more from our resources when resources are wasted through corruption”. Marape said.
The PM added that “We will make sure that the ICAC is fully functional, we have now inserted provisions on undisclosed wealth into the Proceeds of Crimes Act. This ensures that no public official is living beyond his means. We must make sure that public officials are doing their best at work and not conducting business geared for their personal gain. Any public servant who wants to venture into business may be supported by the Government but they must resign from public office”.
Since the establishment and set up of the House of Assembly during colonial administration, there have been about 107 Commission of Inquiries that were set up and conducted. However, after independence COIs seemed costly and most implicated in this inquires have never been successfully prosecuted, especially politicians and bureaucrats.
There have been notable COIs such as the inquiry into the UBS loan and the Julian Moti saga, These inquiries only made recommendations for relevant Government Authorities that were responsible to conduct further investigations and eventually prosecute, but most that were implicated have used court discretions to suspend sentences and have disgracefully been successful in their appeal in overturning court decisions.
To date, so much of public funds have been spent to inquire into scandalous affairs of mismanagement and misappropriation of public assets by Government officers and politicians without anyone being prosecuted successfully.
Prime Minister James Marape’s interest in addressing this issue will finally urge responsible parties to fully conduct and carry out COIs and complete the process. It has become a common practice for COIs to be tabled only to be shelved and laid aside to collect dust.
Now with the creation and establishment of the ICAC, responsible authorities must work closely and effectively to address these pending inquiries so that the country can move ahead and focus on development.
