BY JOY OFASIA
THE Solomon Islands Ombudsman, Mr. Fred Fakari’i, highlighted the country’s public offices’ lack of sound decision-making skills during the launch of the Corruption Perception Index 2023 in Honiara today.
One of the key issues raised was the lack of transparency and accountability within the government public offices. The Ombudsman found that important decisions were often made without proper consultation or input from relevant stakeholders. This has led to a widespread perception that decision-making processes are biased.
Mr. Fakari’i, a civil servant with extensive government experience, emphasized the significant cost of poor public office decisions, resulting in millions and billions of dollars for the government.
He said that bad decisions are more costly than good decisions when compared to the decisions made, citing that the Ombudsman Office, Leadership Code Commission, and Australian Government have created a decision manual to assist decision-makers in the country.
“The Ombudsman, together with the office of the Leadership Court Commission and the assistant of the Australian Government, has helped our decision-makers in our public offices by producing a good decision manual to guide them and a check list that must always be referred to when they make any decision, which is very important because a small decision that seems irrelevant affects the lives of many people,” during the panelist discussion on the Solomon Islands Corruption Perception Index 2023 Results launch event at the Justice Ground, Town Ground.
He added that they must make sure that bad decisions and corruption do not continue to be made in the offices, such as bribery and even making decisions that sometimes they do not have the power to make, etc.
Mr. Fakari’i calls on everyone to work together to solve this issue.
“In order for us to solve this major problem together, all of us must work together. Everyone must work together, come and report corruption issues that are not right, come to us, and share them with us so that we can deal with these issues. Corruption is not only with the government; it is also in the churches and our communities,” the Ombudsman said.
The Solomon Islands Ombudsman’s Office is a constitutional office that deals with issues of maladministration in the public service in the country.
