2/11/2022

By Nadia Marai

The PSC Anti-Corruption & Integrity Committee made an appearance on NBC’s Morning Talk-Show hosted by radio personality Mr. Stephen Mase.

The Committee that included the Team Leader by Mr. David Hanaromo (Director Investigations), Ms. Rachael Wii (Director Assessment) and Ms. Dorah Gawi (Principal Media & Publication Officer) were accompanied along-side the Transparency International PNG’s Project Lead for the PAIS program Miss. Daera Ganiga.

The committee spoke about how PSC’s Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy was developed as well as highlighting the four (4) Key Objectives and eight Key Priority Areas to be implemented.

When asked about how this initiative came about, Mr. Hanaromo stressed that PSC stands committed to promote good governance, and have therefore taken part in numerous anti-corruption programs. PSC has said has also provided a platform for other organizations like the Department of Finance to roll out its Phones Against Corruption program through the PSC Awareness Program so when we were approached by TIPNG to develop an Anti-Corruption Strategy at the agency level, the Commission was more than happy to sign the MoU with Transparency International PNG .

‘’At PSC we promote good governance and we believe in good governance and so when TIPNG reached out we saw that as an opportunity to practice what we stand for. At times we have allegations that are raised against our officers for receiving bribes or engaging in corrupt activities so we saw that as an opportunity for us to use that platform to address those issues and in a way that can also be an avenue for us to properly address those complaints”, said Mr. Hanaromo.

Furthermore Ms Wii spoke about the eight key priority areas which will further address the four key objectives as captured in the strategy.

‘’The eight key priority areas includes; setting up of the corruption complaints desk to manage corruption complaints, enforcing the Public Service Management Act and the Public Service Ethics & Code of Conduct, improving compliance in mandatory functions and requirements of the PSC ,promoting and strengthening honest leadership, ensuring compliance and manageability of the finance management system, strengthening accountability and oversight, strengthening public awareness of PSC’s core function and to further strengthen coordination and partnership with PSC stakeholders.

Ms. Gawi also mentioned how the strategy will be rolled out, making mention of the various platforms that will be utilized to implement this strategy.

‘” The PSC Anti-Corruption & Integrity Strategy will be rolled through the PSC Awareness Program, hopefully by next year, depending on funding. The onus here is to inform the public about our stance against corruption and about how anyone for that matter can report issues of corruption that they cite officers of the PSC taking part in, we have provided platforms through our Facebook page, PSC enquires email and LinkedIn and in addition we also have a complaints box that will be placed at the reception area where anyone can come in and drop an anonymous tip or lay a complaint every complaint will be taken seriously’’ said Ms Gawi.

Miss. Ganiga from TIPNG spoke about their effort in advocating for a corruption free country and its assistance towards helping government agencies like PSC, develop and implement strategies to fight corruption at their respective levels.

“So far there has been a total of five agencies within the public service that have signed MoU’s to develop their agency’s Anti-Corruption strategy, and only two (2) have launched their strategies, PSC is the second, after the National Economic & Fiscal Commission launched theirs in June, 2022”, said Miss. Ganiga.

The Public Services Commission is serious about its stance against corruption and would be implementing its Anti-Corruption and Integrity Strategy 2022-2025 to address corruption its level as an agency of integrity.

//ENDS//