Source: Eddie Tanago, ACT NOW!

ACT NOW! is again calling on the government to publicly release the draft ICAC law that it has promised will shortly be debated by Parliament.

There have been so many delays over the establishment of an Independent Commission Against Corruption that the government cannot be trusted not to have watered down the Commission’s powers and that it may end up as just another toothless tiger.

Source: Post Courier, April 23, 2019

OUTGOING Justice Minister and Attorney General Steven Davis has expressed frustration at the delay in giving power to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

He blamed the ‘Waigani jungle’ and the lack of commitment from senior public servants to get the ICAC Bill back to Parliament. The Bill was passed 91-0 almost 5 years ago.

Latest international survey results emphasize again the need for a full funded Independent Commission Agaianst Corruption 

Source: Patrick Niato Tom / Post Courier

A new report by the global watchdog Transparency International has again classified Papua New Guinea as one of the most highly corrupt countries in the world.

Image: Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato, Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC leaders summit in Port Moresby last year. PNG's PM has faced criticism for spending on the meeting. Photo: APEC Papua New Guinea Media team

Issues of corruption and land grabbing figure high in Human Rights Watch assessemnt of PNG

ACT NOW! has condemned the suspension of award winning journalist Scott Waide who has reportedly been sidelined on the orders of the government for his reporting on current issues affecting the country.

ACT NOW! says the suspension is a huge attack on media freedom and should be condemned by everyone in PNG and the region.

ACT NOW! has reiterated the Media Council’s call for the government to immediately reverse the suspension. 

News from the Correctional Services chief, Stephen Pokanis that the prison at Baisu, near Mount Hagen, is overcrowded because of the number of people awaiting trial is disturbing for a number of reasons.  

Papua New Guinea’s proposed Independent Commission Against Corruption could end up being an ineffective and toothless organisation as a result of government changes to the draft ICAC bill [can be downloaded below].

Expert analysis shows the government has watered down the draft legislation to remove key powers from the proposed agency, despite claims to the contrary from the Prime Minister and Attorney General.

The government’s announcement of a so-called ’interim ICAC’ is an insult to the nation and an abuse of the ICAC name. 

An ICAC must be independent from government and free from any political interference, but, what the Prime Minister has announced, fundamentally fails both these tests.

It is six years since Prime Minister Peter O’Neill promised the country an Independent Commission Against Corruption. Yet that vision is no closer to being realised today than it was in 2012.

Peter O’Neill has totally failed to live up to his promises in both the 2012 and 2017 Alotau Accords that the government would establish an ICAC.