30 Jan 2015

Promise to combat Solomons corruption looked upon with scepticism

2:51 pm on 30 January 2015

Transparency Solomon Islands says the country's Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has a lot of work to do if he is to live up to his promise to tackle corruption.

In his policy announcement on Tuesday, Mr Sogavare promised to implement a range of legislation and strategies to combat corruption, including establishing an Independent Commission against Corruption.

But a board member for Transparency Solomon Islands, Tony Hughes, says many people have made similar promises before, and it will take far more than establishing a commission to combat corruption in Solomon Islands.

"Corruption is so pervasive, it runs through so many parts of the public sector and has become so well established that it's not just a matter of setting up an ICAC, it's a matter of changing the way a lot of people have got used to behaving."

Tony Hughes says despite having a new government, the parliament and public sector still has many of the same corrupt people.