Chairman of the Solomon Islands Independent Commission Against Corruption (SIICAC), Sir Frank Kabui has described the Anti-Corruption Commission as a tiger without teeth in the battle against corruption.
“The SIICAC is a tiger without teeth; it boasts a big and honorable name, but it lacks the power to bite. We are powerless,” he said.
Sir Kabui’s remarks come after the latest 2023 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) revealed that the country scored 43 out of 100.
The CPI assesses the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of zero to 100, where zero represents high corruption, and 100 – very clean.
Chairman of Transparency Solomon Islands (TSI) Rodney Kingmele, during the report launch pointed out that the country’s concerning score indicates alleged serious corruption issues within the public sector.
“Despite worldwide progress to criminalise corruption and the establishment of a specialized institution to deal with it, the corruption level has remained stagnant.
“Solomon Islands’ ranking has stagnated since 2018, that was when the country recorded the biggest score improvement among all Asian Pacific countries.
“Since then, little progress has been made in the fight against corruption, contributing to our ranking remaining in the lower 40s,” Kingmele explained.
Meanwhile, Sir Frank revealed that since the establishment of SIICAC in 2018, the government has not committed to providing financial support for their operational costs.
“How can you expect us to effectively combat corruption when there is no commitment from the government?” the SIICAC chairman questioned.
Ruth Liloqula, Chief Executive Officer of TSI, calls on everyone to continue working together in addressing corruption in the country.
“Despite it being hard knowing our CPI score is not good, we must come together to fight corruption. The power is within us,” Liloqula said.
SOURCE: SIBC/PACNEWS
