Beef up anti-graft agencies

I ENCOURAGE those who fight corruption as a service of duty to the independent State of Papua New Guinea to keep on keeping on.
First, the Ombudsman Commission (OC) appointment committee chaired by the prime minister needs to make an urgent appointment of another member of ombudsman.
The OC has to have a quorum of three to make unquestionable referrals of allegations of breach of the leadership code, for investigations and prosecutions by the public prosecutor.
Serious cases are being held up at the court system on technicalities, while the culprits are buying time to serve their terms in public office at the expense of the people .
Next, the National Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate needs to be beefed up with human resources to adequately process investigation files.
The workload is just too much for them to tackle all forms of corruption complaints that is flooding in.
Most serious cases don’t reach conviction level.
Also, the office of the Public Prosecutor is duty bound to proactively recommend dismissal or termination of employment contracts for those holding public offices, if they are facing serious criminal charges.
Fighting corruption requires all systems to function to the end.

Observer NCD