There is a vast expectation from many men and women
of Solomon Islands since Lilo
came into power.
Some of the questions that are floating on the minds of many people are on the differences this new leadership will make, will it bring POSITIVE difference from the previous government, will it take heed of national interest rather than SELF INTEREST and will it learn from the past mistakes of the past governments?
Remember CORRUPTION has become the downfall of many of our Government Leaders.
Looking at the Solomon Islands today corruption is an ongoing disease. Government after Government are lip serving about it, but there are no effective actions to tackle and combat it.
Corrupt Leadership is not a stranger to this country. In fact it has started as a disease and now has turn into an epidemic where no cure can be found.
When corruption is practiced at the highest level of leadership and decision making in this country, it is hard for the little people of Solomon Islands to do anything effective about it apart from protesting and demonstration.
Corruption in Solomon Islands is a transmitted disease and it can be transmit from one person to another, one institution to another and one government to another. What has been transpired from the leadership of Danny Philip to the new Gordon Darcy leadership is obvious.
Once again, the question now is whether this government will focus its energy on finding a cure to reduce corruption in the country one that has been the downfall of the Danny Philip Government in particular Danny Philip himself.
Lilio’s leadership will have to be serious about tackling this grave issue. For instance year after year, donors are pouring millions and millions of dollars in this country, but the differences this makes is not felt by many Solomon Islanders just yet.
They are hearing about so much money coming in, but have very little knowledge on where it is going. Again corruption is not all about misappropriation of public funds, but also about other things.
So often decision makers can also corrupt the process of making the right decision; for instance, the positions of Political Appointees.
PM Lilo will need to be smart to pick the right people, not the ones that are being made redundant by the Public service.
To avoid a corrupt decision, it would be very interesting to see whether some of our young graduates would be taken on board to work alongside some of these Political Appointees with vast experience behind them.
It is about time that Solomon Islands look at corruption differently. There is need to go beyond NGOs talking about it only as well as government forming committees to work on eradicating it.
The challenge here is that corruption is already eating up the fabric of the Solomon Islands systems.
It is everywhere. Talking about corruption and individuals involve heated up violence in many of our people. This is where Solomon Islanders tend to lose confidence in whether it is leadership, institution or church.
What corruption does is it denies people of having the rights to change, change of their livelihood (life style), change in terms of positive development, and change in terms of leadership, one that is competent, accountable, and answerable to the men, women, youth and children of Solomon Islands.
Corruption also denies the people of this country from receiving quality health care services, quality education, effective security systems that promotes safety and a process that truly brings people together.
Corruption denies employees of this country from receiving salary that is attractive and fitting to look after their families because such is spend on something else.
Corruption is also a hindrance to economic growth. When economic growth is talked about in Solomon Islands, one tend to question on how this growth is making a positive impact on women and people living in the villages?
When corruption corrupts the minds of leaders, it blinds them not to see clearly the needs of the country, their roles and responsibilities, their areas of priority and lack of vision to see and to do the right thing.
Corruption now is a curse to this country. People talk about corrupt leaders, but put those very ones to lead them the next time around.
We talk about ways to strengthen and promote leadership at all levels of society, but at the same time the highest body for quality and competent leadership is often accused of that very act itself with a lot of talking about it in the media, but with very little action against those leaders.
Sadly, many of them will never face justice to clear their names just like past leaders.
In conclusion, to clean up Solomon Islands, getting rid of corrupt practices and corrupt leaders is up to the men and women of this country.
It is about putting our Christian and moral values and principles straight.
It is about respecting each other’s property whether one is at the highest level of leadership or at all levels of society.
If the new government of Gordon Darcy Lilo looks at tackling corruption in Solomon Islands as one of its priority areas to address, many Solomon islanders will confide in his leadership.
It is critical for the new PM to gain the trust of the people otherwise he will never be taken or seen as a competent leader and whatever good his government is doing for this country it will often be undermine.
It is now time for the Lilo Government to prove to the people of this country what his government strategies are to combat corruption in government and in SI as a whole.
By Ella Kauhue
Honiara
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