TSI shares Auditor General's concerns over reports

The Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) has joined the Auditor General in expressing concerns over the lack of any government follow up to the Audit Reports that have been presented to the National Parliament.

“This very serious matter has been raised by the Auditor General and reported in the Solomon Star on the 13 October 2006. There must be serious doubts about the commitment of our national leaders to transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption in our nation,” a statement by the board of TSI, the local anti-corruption body said today.

In his statement the Audit General cited examples of audit reports that have been recently presented to the National Parliament on the following issues: the Exim Loan, the Tertiary scholarship programme, the National Referral hospital, the sub-division of Kukum land, the Civil Aviation Division. These reports followed earlier deeply disturbing examinations of Forestry, Fisheries and Immigration..

“These reports uncover evidence of corruption and other activities that appear to be illegal and may reflect organised criminal activity reaching into many parts of the public sector, Perhaps it is not surprising that they seem to have sunk without a trace,” the statement said.

“We at TSI join the Auditor General in expressing deep concern over how the National Parliament, and the relevant government ministries and departments appear to be ignoring these very significant audit reports despite them being presented to parliament by his office.”

“We support the Auditor General’s call that any such audit reports should be formally introduced to Parliament. This should be done through a motion to take note of their content, and to require the government to take action on their findings and report progress regularly to Parliament. Such a motion should be moved by the Chairman and members of the Public Accounts Committee, and should have a prominent place in the regular order of business of Parliament, not be relegated to private members’ day on Fridays.

In this way MPs will have the incentive to scrutinise and understand the reports and the time to properly debate their contents. The reports cannot then just be slotted into MPs’ pigeon holes to be forgotten. The public would also be properly informed on the issues raised in the reports, and could follow the government’s actions.

As well as lack of action in Parliament, the Auditor General is very critical of the lack of follow up by the relevant Ministries and Departments. TSI believes the public have a right to know why no action has been taken at departmental level to pursue the considerable evidence of illegal and corrupt practices uncovered in the audit reports. Is this failure to follow up, on the part of the relevant Ministries and Departments a matter of oversight, incompetence or lack of resources, or is it a deliberate cover up by officials and perhaps also politicians?.

Transparency Solomon Islands will seek further information on this matter from these ministries, departments and national parliament, and will keep the public informed on this important issue.

For Further Media Enquiries:
Contact:
Bob Pollard
Chairman
ph: 30454
mb: 79187

Judith Fangalasu
Vice Chair:
PH: 27663
MB: 75352