1/11/2022

By Nadia Marai

‘The Public Services Commission (PSC) is serious about its Anti-corruption stance; therefore, we have aligned ourselves to other institutions of integrity who are promoters of good governance and are at the forefront in the fight against corruption. Organizations like TIPNG, ICAC and Ombudsmen Commission among other institutions of integrity.

We are focused on restoring confidence and trust in our decisions and recommendations and to uphold our Mission which is to promote a highly competent, non-partisan and representative Public Service that is based on the values of fairness, integrity, transparency, accountability and accessibility’.

These were the sentiments shared by the Chairman of the Public Services Commission Mr Apeo Fuata Sione, during the launch of the Public Services Commission Anti-Corruption and Integrity strategy on Friday the 28th of October, 2022.

PSC’s Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy was developed as a result of a partnership with Transparency International PNG in October 2021, and is the Commission’s first Anti-Corruption Strategy at the agency level, that is home grown and is specifically tailored for PSC.

‘’Through our partnership with TIPNG, the Public Services Commission was able to develop a Strategy containing four (4) Key Objectives and eight Key Priority Areas for implementation. The four Key Objectives are ‘Promoting and Strengthening Honest Leadership in PSC; Ensuring Compliance and Accountability in PSC; Fostering an Anti-Corruption Culture in PSC; and Building Capacity and maintaining effective people management systems’’.

‘’What PSC expects to achieve from the Strategy is a strong culture that values, promotes and rewards honesty and ethical leaders; that the compliance and enforcement of PSC’s decisions within the mandatory time-frame are strengthened; internal mechanisms to detect and counter fraud and misappropriation are strengthened ; that corruption complaints against our staff involving bribery, extortion and conflict-of interest are clearly identified and addressed efficiently and effectively within the time-frame of 30 Days, which is an internal process specifically developed to address allegations of corruption complaints both internally and externally that will be managed through the Anti-Corruption & Complaints Desk which has been created through this strategy. It means the Commission can now take action on its staff, even refer them to relevant authorities if need be, regardless of the alleged complaint made’’ said Mr Sione.

He stressed that the reality in PNG is that our people have lost confidence in the systems of governance within the Public Service, therefore the onus is upon us here today to convince the people of Papua New Guinea whom we serve, that the fight against corruption is still worthwhile, and starts with organizations like the Public Services Commission.

Mr. Sione also took the opportunity to acknowledge the support of TIPNG, Square Circle Australia and PSCs Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy Committee Mr David Hanaromo, Ms Racheal Wii and Ms Dorah Gawi for their immense contributions in developing this strategy.

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