THE public is urged to report any acts of corruption they come across in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development (MID).
Permanent Secretary Henry Murray made the suggestion following claims corruption has been rife in the ministry’s Vehicle Inspection Unit.
A Honiara resident, Jeff Bud recently wrote to the Solomon Star, alleging public officers in the ministry who were tasked with the responsibility of checking, testing and passing vehicles, have been willingly receiving bribes of $100, $200, or even higher amounts, from vehicle owners just to pass their vehicles through inspection.
“This is common knowledge, and those who have vehicles and have undergone inspection many times already know the names and identities of the public officers,” Mr Bud said.
“Also, it is common knowledge that some vehicle owners, especially friends and relatives of the officers do not even take their vehicles in for testing, but instead walk up to the responsible officers, give them their bribe money, and in a matter of seconds, their vehicle inspection papers will be passed,” he added.
Mr Murray said those who have evidence of corruption should lodge them with his office so that investigations can be conducted.
He said allegations of corruption are serious and that none of us wanted to see it happening within the government.
“We must work together to identify people who entertain such conduct in office so that we could discipline them immediately,” he added.
“We cannot use government office for personal gain, thus anyone from the public or within their ministry, who know about such ongoing behaviour should report the matter to his authority with evidences, so that investigations could be carried out.”
By AATAI JOHN
