SIPRA Pledges to combat Corruption
By Alex Dadamu
The Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (SIPRA) has promised to equip the Anti-Corruption Commission with the resources to curb corruption in the country.
Party President and Former Member of Parliament for Gizo/Kolombangara constituency Mr. Gordon Darcy Lilo made the statement when he launched the party’s manifesto in Honiara.
He said much has been said about corruption in the country, but nothing is done to address these issues.
“If this party goes in, in the first year only will we provide the Anti-corruption commission with the resources to curb corruption”.
“You will hold me accountable for this, first thing… we talk too much about corruption, we talk too much about, you know, about stealing and theft and everything but we never resource the anti-corruption bodies”.
“How many years have we passed the anti corruption act? almost 3, 4 or 5 years ago, how many resources did they give to the anticorruption commission? Probably their salary just to keep them warming the chair but not enough to even walk outside of their door… no nothing,” Mr Lilo pointed out.
Mr. Lilo said addressing corruption in Solomon Islands is what SIPRA stands for.
Party members and the public who attended the launching
The SIPRA president is contesting the Central Honiara Constituency Parliamentary seat in the upcoming joint elections.
Meanwhile, other political parties have also echoed the same statement promising to address corruption in the country.
Speaking to SIBC during OUR party Manifesto launching early this month on the 9th of February, Caretaker Prime Minister, and OUR Party parliamentary wing leader, Manasseh Sogavare has assured the country of their commitment to fight corruption.
Sogavare assures that the issue of corruption will be among the first to be addressed if they return to Parliament. He also assures us to work with institutions of good governance to amend the anti-corruption act in the country.
The Auditor General Office recently revealed that despite a backlog of audits to be done with the national government finance, the recent government’s audit report which is the 2018 financial audit report is a disclaimer which means the report is not good and does not meet the AG office’s standard of a good quality report.
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