SOLOMON IS: Auditor Generals backs PM's statement
Updated
The Solomon Islands Auditor General has welcomed Prime Minister Derek Sikua's commitment to fight corruption. Doctor Sikua says his government will legislate to establish a National Audit Office and an anti-corruption agency. He made the announcement while launching his new coalition government's policy statement in Honiara on Friday. Auditor General Augustine Fatai says establishing a National Audit Office will guarantee the independence of the office in fighting corruption in government.
Presenter: Sam Seke
Speakers: Augustine Fatai, Solomon Islands Auditor General
FATAI: The speech from the Prime Minister gets a lot of vote from me. Firstly I appreciated my reports into the public sector, the administration of that. Secondly, we need to setup a National Audit Office so .. kind of delineate or segregate the powers of the Auditor General from the executive government. Now by doing so in my view it'll be very beneficial in that for business in the future would know where that independence of the Auditor General's office lie, and this is a very crucial point in any country because the first and foremost thing is to guarantee the independence of the auditor general.
SEKE: It is no secret that corruption is quite common in well some of the government ministries, so do you think by establishing this National Audit Office that would maybe help curb corruption in the government system?
FATAI: Sam I think the first words … is that the government, to be more specific the Prime Minister in his speech today he made special reference to the corruption case highlighted by the Auditor General's report. Now I think that is very good, especially because the government recognises that there is a boundary, some level of corruption in the public sense. Secondly, I think it is very important that when you deal with corruption you deal with human beings. Computers don't defraud people, machines don't defraud people, it's people who defraud people. But I think the step taken by the government today in one, establishing an anti-corruption body, two, restrengthening the office of the auditor general kind of symbolised that the current government is taking things seriously.
SEKE: Establishing a National Audit Office with the current capacity of the government would be quite daunting, now how do you reckon such an office would be established with the resources now available to the government?
FATAI: Well Sam I think it's not that really daunting in a sense because we have the resources, we have the resources to do that. It's just that the functions of the office that deal with the corruption and the ethics aspect of this has never been established.
