35 MPs & public servants arrested in PNG graft bust
11 May 2012
BY KEITH JACKSON
FOLLOWING YESTERDAY’S STARTLING revelation by Papua New Guinea’s corruption busting watchdog that graft in the country’s government departments has become institutionalised, it is reported that Task Force Sweep this morning arrested 35 people including several current and former MPs as well as 24 public servants.
Commentator Tavurvur has just reported the arrests on Twitter. They follow a report by the task force that said that illegality and secrecy is sanctioned in PNG to the extent that the nation is now a "mobocracy".
Task Force Sweep yesterday presented the final report on its seven-month investigation into malpractice across government agencies.
"Generally our investigations have revealed a very frightening trend of corruption in this country," taskforce chairman Sam Koim said.
"The level of corruption has migrated from sporadic to systematic and now to institutionalisation, where government institutions are dominated by corrupt people who orchestrate corruption using lawful authorities.
"Institutions that are supposed to practice openness and provide check and balance are now becoming a secrecy haven, where they sanction illegality and secrecy."
Mr Koim described corrupt officials as a mob and said they had turned PNG from a constitutional democracy into a mobocracy.
In an early response, prime minister Peter O'Neill is reported to have said PNG needs a permanent anti-corruption body, an initiative long advocated by PNG Attitude contyributor, Barbara Short.
The Sydney Morning Herald editorial, Monday 14 May, 2012, sums up the Task Force Sweep findings.
Let us hope that there will be a follow up on these findings despite the looming elections.
It points out that the big discretionary funds given to the politicians undermine the public servants and lead to corruption.
The ABC TV Asian affairs program on Sunday 13 May also ran an excellent item on how PNG people are becoming more politically informed due to the mobile phones and the blogs, Facebook and Twitter etc.
Let's hope the blogs etc also push that something will be done about the findings from Task Force Sweep.
The Herald also has an excellent article on how the NSW Labor has been working in Federal politics to protect Craig Thomson. Politics can be a very dirty business and it needs everyone to keep an eye on things.
I'm sure there are people out there who know how Namah got his millions. I doubt if it was legal. People who know about corruption need to speak out.
Posted by: Mrs Barbara Short | 14 May 2012 at 08:31 AM
It was wonderful to see this news item covered on ABC News last night, Friday 11 May.
Sam Koim was shown handing over the findings of Task Force Sweep to prime minister Peter O'Neill.
It also showed a film of some people and mentioned that one of the people found to have been corrupt was a previous minister and government public servants but no names were mentioned.
Let us hope that the new PNG government, whoever they are, will follow on from the good work of Task Force Sweep and that an Independent Commission Against Corruption will be set up in PNG as soon as possible.
The NSW ICAC would be a good model to follow. It has been exposing corruption at both NSW and local levels of government.
Pity we don't have one in force at the federal level to handle cases like the fiasco we see in the federal parliament at the moment over the Craig Thomson affair!
Posted by: Mrs Barbara Short | 12 May 2012 at 08:00 AM
I wonder whether mobocracy is also rife at The National newspaper.
Yesterday a couple of university students went to submit poems to the editor for the writers' forum, only to be stared at with animosity by security.
Said one student poet, "Honest, we just hate dis person. We saw the security personnel's reaction when the editor's name was mentioned."
This morning in The National's writers' forum a poem was published clearly plagiarising the work of an African American poet in New England, USA.
We are trying to contact the poet to see what steps to take next in tackling this underworld network of plagiarists and phantom poets.
Posted by: Russell Soaba | 11 May 2012 at 01:14 PM
More power to Sam Koim and Task Force Sweep. Go get em!
Posted by: David Kitchnoge | 11 May 2012 at 12:28 PM