Give priority to complaints, OC told

ANTI-CORRUPTION fighter John Endemongo Kua has urged the Ombudsman Commission (OC), the courts and relevant law enforcement agencies to give urgency to matters lodged properly with them.
Kua, who is president of the People’s Anti-Corruption Movement Association, decided to bring his frustration to the media after many of these bodies failed to act on certain complaints he has laid with them within a reasonable time.
He said these bodies had a constitutional duty to take carriage of all matters brought before them urgently.
Kua said several of these matters involved big names in politics and the public sector.
With regards to the OC, Kua is disappointed that the commission has not taken up its own recommendation in the inquiry it carried out into the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) Loan.
Kua wrote to the OC on May 10, 2023 the following message: “It is almost four years since the report was tabled in Parliament recommending the OC to investigate all the leaders implicated for misconduct in office and we are disappointed that the OC has not complied with its own recommendation which undermines the integrity of the office as a fair and impartial watchdog.
“We hereby inform the OC that because of your act of omission to disregard the recommendation of the report, we are compelled to institute legal proceedings to obtain further clarification from the court on your delay to act on the recommendation on the report as we are of the opinion that you have not acted in the interest of the public.”
A year later, Kua and the People’s Anti-Corruption Movement Inc are still waiting.
More recently, on Feb 16, 2024 wrote to the Ombudsman Commission again raising a “complaint against the conduct of Imbonggu MP and Minister for Justice and Attorney General Pila Niningi in the engagement of his nephew McRonald Nale as a lawyer who is handling litigation matters for the State”.
This one brought almost immediate response. The OC on March 15, 2024 wrote to Kua appreciating that he had lodged a complaint and informing him that by law it (the OC) was obliged to investigate all complaints and that this particular matter would be “taken through the process to be assessed before any decision can be taken” as to whether a formal investigation would be started.
With regards to the courts, Kua and the Anti-Corruption Movement have taken out a case against the Minister of Finance for the purported 10-year delay in the tabling of the public accounts of Papua New Guinea (Originating Summons 08/24).