THE OMBUDSMAN Office has pointed out that the level of corruption in the country is on the rise.
In his presentation during the Anti-Corruption Workshop for Civil Society Organisations yesterday, Senior Administration Officer within the Ombudsman Office, Patteson Tomu said the very high level of corruption in the country is due to the absence of an Anti-Corruption Agency.
He said it is time for the government to quickly establish an anti-corruption agency that would strengthen the existing integrity agencies.
Mr Tomu said existing anti-corruption agencies are weak and have no proper legal mandate to deal with corruption practices.
“We have the Ombudsman Office as an arm to address corruption practices, but the law does not expressly task the Ombudsman to do much on corruption.
“I believe this situation also affects other anti-corruption agencies,” he explained.
Mr Tomu said the Ombudsman is there just to investigate the actions as well as conducts of certain public officials who breach the Public Service Code.
He further states that the Ombudsman Office is there to assist administrative practices and procedures in efforts to foster fair and reasonable decision-making.
He explained that other bodies such as the Royal Solomon Islands Police, Director of Public Prosecutions, Office of the Auditor General and Leadership Code Commission are the right wing of the Ombudsman Office when it comes to penalizing corruption practices.
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