By SHIRLYN BELDEN

PAPUA New Guinea has the most corrupt public sector in the Pacific, according to the Corruption Perceptions Index 2011, The National reports.
The CPI 2011 was launched in Port Moresby by the Transparency International PNG last Friday.
PNG scored the lowest point at 2.2 with the Solomon Islands scoring 2.7, Tonga 3.1, Kiribati 3.1, Vanuatu 3.5 and Samoa 3.9.
Fiji was not included in the Index.
Ranked globally, PNG is 154 out of 182 countries surveyed in the world.
The CPI ranked New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Singapore as the top five “very clean” countries with scores between 9.2 to  9.5.
The countries are ranked on a scale of zero to 10 with zero perceived to be corrupt and 10 to be least corrupt.
The ranking of countries and territories is based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be.
PNG’s ranking has not improved in the past four years – from 2.1 to 2.2.
Chairman of Transparency International PNG Lawrence Stephens said: “there remains a strong need to take action now by all citizens to fight corruption and for the government to practise good governance,” he said.
He said PNG’s lack of improvement on the CPI ranking could be attributed to the lack of real action by the governments – including the current one to deal with issues and the spread of corruption.
“Evidence of lack of political will to tackle corruption has been demonstrated in the way the governments have handled some of the nation’s controversial issues.”
He pointed out the special purpose agricultural business lease, the Moti affair, the Taiwan diplomacy scandal and the Cairns conservatory as examples of corruption by the government.