Pacific & PNG MPs, Ombudsmen working to boost fund oversight

(Wellington, New Zealand) 29 November 2022 – Pacific Parliamentarians including PNG’s Koni K. Iguan and Gov. Gary Juffa, PNG Chief Ombudsman Richard Pagen, Pacific Ombudsmen and integrity agencies are working together this week at the Parliament of New Zealand to boost oversight of Constituency Development Funds (CDFs), with technical assistance from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC).

The attendance of the PNG parliamentary delegation was funded by the European Union under the Project on Preventing and Countering Corruption in Papua New Guinea, and supported by implementation partner the United Nations Development Programme in PNG.

The conference, held in the Legislative Council Chamber of the NZ Parliament, will result in a new Pacific-focused toolkit on CDFs to strengthen accountability and transparency, in line with UNODC mandate as the custodian of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and GOPAC’s role in assisting parliamentarians to work together to combat corruption, strengthen good government, and uphold the rule of law.

“CDFs developed as an answer to the challenge of decentralizing development funding, with Papua New Guinea being one of the world’s first CDF adopters in the 1980s. Key standard practices around the world include that the amount of funds allocated through CDFs has generally increased over time, and MPs are part of the allocation decision process, with variations in oversight and the role of the Executive and Parliament,” said UNODC Pacific Anti-Corruption Adviser, Ms. Marie Pegie Cauchois.

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GOPAC recognized the potential for perceptions of conflict of interest, as Parliamentarians juggle their role as the democratic and often best-informed representative of their constituency to judge funding priorities, while also having a Parliament oversight role in spending by the Executive and Parliament.

“While the Melanesian and Tongan countries are the major users of CDFs in the Pacific, every country has a different system – GOPAC recognizes there is merit in developing a best-practice Pacific model particularly learning from the reviews and accountability that Solomon Islands and Tonga are introducing,” said Lord Fusitu’a, Chair of GOPAC Oceania, the GOPAC regional grouping of Pacific, Australia and New Zealand parliamentarians.

“GOPAC welcomes the partnership with UNODC to create a toolkit that examines CDFs from an evidence-based perspective, with genuine consultation between parliamentarians, Ombudsmen and integrity agencies,” said Lord Fusitu’a.

Ms. Cauchois said that consensus on good practices in CDF dispersal and management would build on Pacific countries commitments under UNCAC and the Teieniwa Vision, the anti-corruption regional roadmap adopted by 18 Pacific Island countries.

Chief Ombudsman Richard Pagen told delegates that in PNG, Parliamentarians have direct involvement in the administration of certain funds which are earmarked for rural development.  “These discretionary funds have gone under a variety of different names (Electoral Development Funds, Rural Action Program; Service Improvement Funds; Constitutional Grants and for Bougainville, Constituency Development Funds etc),” said Mr Pagen.

UNODC supported the two-day CDF conference and development of the CDF toolkit through the UN Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption Project (UN-PRAC), supported by the New Zealand Aid Programme. GOPAC Oceania is assisted financially by the GOPAC Office in Qatar and the Government of Qatar.

The PNG Parliamentarians Hon Koni K. Iguan and Gov. Gary Juffa also attended the Biennial General Meeting of GOPAC Oceania in Wellington, where PNG’s parliamentarians were accepted as a GOPAC Chapter-in-Formation.

“GOPAC Oceania will now write to the PNG Parliament Speaker and Clerk inviting the Parliament to convene a meeting of PNG Parliamentarians dedicated to inaugurating an official GOPAC PNG Chapter and inviting a PNG MP to site on the GOPAC Oceania Board,” said GOPAC Oceania Chair, Lord Fusitu’a.

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