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Setting up an ICAC entity has been mooted many times before in various public forums but nothing substantive has resulted from this.
The main reason for this inaction so far is that successive PNG governments have always lacked the required political will and determination to stamp out corruption in PNG.
An ICAC should be a principal agency with a statutory charter to investigate and prevent corruption in PNG.
It must be totally independent from the executive branch of the Government.
The principal objectives should be:
• To enforce anti-corruption laws vigilantly and professionally, to make corruption a high-risk crime;
• To identify and eliminate opportunities for corruption in government departments and public bodies by reviewing their procedures and practices, and promote corruption prevention in private sector businesses; and
• To educate the community about the evils of corruption and enlist their support in the war against corruption.
The anti-corruption agency needs a simple but basic plan of action before employing other more complex strategies in future to combat corruption.
The plan should be to conduct investigation, prevention and education, through the operations, corruption prevention and community relations divisions within the Commission.
The agency must implement effective strategies such as employing proactive investigation techniques to identify and prosecute instances of corruption which might otherwise go unreported.
A further approach must also include use of undercover operations and broader and more effective use of intelligence and information technology.
In addition, ICAC's investigators must be given continuous professional training to keep pace with the changing commercial environment, technological advances and the latest developments in criminal investigation techniques.
The training should embrace a wide range of topics, including financial investigation, IT applications, computer forensics, video interview techniques, case management and court proceedings.
Joint operational groups must be established and should comprise of retired senior service officers, dedicated ICAC agents and the disciplined services to strengthen inter-agency cooperation.
Regular meetings should be held to step up operational liaison, addressing common concerns, and developing anti-corruption strategies within the respective disciplined services.
ICAC's main strategic tasks should be focused towards reducing opportunities for corruption in PNG government departments and other public bodies.
It should also include advising private sector and corporate bodies on corruption prevention. The agency must also conduct detailed studies of practices and procedures of the public sector by helping them to effectively implement corruption prevention measures.
Its other services should include providing effective consultation services to public sector organisations when new procedures or policies are being formulated, and when urgent corruption prevention advice is urgently required.
Upon request, ICAC must also provide free and confidential corruption prevention advice to the private sector.
They should include reviewing systems and procedures, drawing up codes of conduct and holding corruption prevention seminars, workshops, etc.
Establishing ICAC in PNG will help other state agencies develop their corruption prevention capability, by producing easy-to-use Best Practice Packages on ways to prevent, minimise or in some controlled manner curb corruption-related opportunities in such corruption prone areas such as procurement, staff administration, information system security, contract letting and administration.
A good community relations strategy is required to educate the public against corruption and enlist their support in the fight against corruption. Community education should be conducted using mass media programmes and a network of ICAC sub-branch offices in the provinces.
Other future strategies to use on regular basis are give advice on organisational guidelines to state agencies by conducting corruption prevention presentations for government officers.
Apart from civil servants, the ICAC office must regularly conduct training seminars for public and private sector organisations, and assist by providing to other agencies by encouraging them to launch staff integrity promotion projects within their respective organisations.
I do not totally agree with Reg here.... This ICAC proposed is similar to the Ombudsman Commission... What we should consider is the creation of an Independent Body, like Crime & Misconduct Commission (CMC)... who are given ALL the powers necessary to prosecute without fear or favour... CORRUPTED Officials in Private or Public Office, or those who hold public office... The CMC must have high profile, Judges, Commercial Lawyers, Lawyers with Auditor and Accountancy qualifications, Lawyers with Fiscal and Financial Planning Intergrity, Lawyers with Economist Degrees, they have to be given Independent mechanisims to investigate and prosecute, according to the law of the land... They have to be given absolute powers to investigate money laundering, PNG Money in overseas banks, have international treaty with other countries to prosecute fraudsters, who extort money from government agencies or who abuse their powers to receive royalities from Forestry, Mining and Energy, that was meant for the PNG people or the RECURRENT Budget, not to be parked in some fictious names and bank accounts overseas...The CMC must be headed by a Judge with Distinction, independent of the judicary system......
ReplyDeleteGreat Comments by Reginald Renagi and I do enjoy reading articles by him in the local PNG newspapers too.
ReplyDeleteThey are all positive and help generate good discussions among many Papua New Guineans on how we can all help to improve the way our country is being run by its leaders.
Keep up the good work
I totally agree with Reg because we can start here and gradually strengthen the existing arrangements than create something new like what Mr. Anonymous is suggesting that everyone knows will not happen. The past and present government do not have the guts to set it up, and will not start now.
ReplyDeleteWith the behaviour of our current government to date since 2002, Somare and his mob will not give it the time of the day. The government will ensure we have a very weak givernance system so the crooks can go on stealing the people's money year in year out.
It's a very good suggestion by Reginald to have an ICAC set up now. The Ombudsman Commission has been around for years without the government doing anything to improve its capacity.
ReplyDeleteThe action plans as outlined by Reginald can immediately be used by all government agencies and by the private sector as well. The strategies are straight forward and each organization's bosses and senior management staff can start implementing many of them to individually improve their own capacities. This can be done right away without waiting for ever for any government to set up and ICAC.
Mr. Anonymous or what your real name is, face the facts, The Crime & Misconduct Commission (CMC) will never happen in PNG under present political enviroment. This will be an impossible assignment for the Prime Minister Somare and his National Executive Conspirators,(NEC). They have miserably failed since 2002 if they can not do the many outstanding things regarding political corruption in PNG.
ReplyDeleteEstablishing an ICAC in PNG is a good idea and the government must do it now if it is serious about preventing corruption at many levels in the public and private sectors.
ReplyDeleteWholly support Reg for the government to set up an ICAC as it is time we stop the corruption that is rapidly killing our society and country.
ReplyDeleteThe ombudsman Commission and the Justice department are not properly equiped to deal with corruption so we need an independent body like an ICAC.