‘Palagi corruption is different from Samoa corruption,’ says Deputy Speaker

Deputy Speaker, Agafili Patisela Eteuati , is not convinced that corruption is a problem in Samoa.

Nor is he convinced that the country needs to sign a United Nations anticorruption convention.

“The palagi corruption is different from Samoa corruption,” he said.

Compared with bigger countries, any corruption in Samoa is tiny.

The deputy Speaker made the point on Thursday during an introductory workshop on the United Nations Convention Against Corruption(U.N.C.A.C.).

An example Agaf i l i used was a man from his constituency who visited his office that morning and gave him food from a umu.

“He came to visit me and I had to give him some money because he came all the way from Savai’i to visit me,” said Agafili.

“It’s a cultural aspect for us…you can’t just tell him thank you and go back to where you came from without giving him some money.”

Agafili was among Members of Parliament participating in the workshop on the convention, adopted by the United Nations in December 2005 to build a comprehensive international legal framework to fight corruption.

Samoa has yet to commit to the convention, and Agafili told the Weekend Observer it would take some time before it does – if it does.

“It would be difficult for me to say if Samoa would join other Pacific island countries,” he said.

“There will be a lot of workshops required because we would need to know what it is before we jump into it.”

Agafili also pointed out that corruption is not a big deal in Samoa compared to the bigger countries. “The corruption that happened in the United States with its financial crisis spread out to other countries affecting us and other countries in the world,” he said.

“But if there’s a corruption in Samoa, it doesn’t affect American Samoa, it’s domestic for us.”

Agafili said it’s the first workshop and the workshop is intended to develop further understanding of the convention.

He stressed that the workshop is important so we can learn about the convention and know its true definition. According to a press release, the workshop is intended to develop further understanding of the U.N. convention and to help inform Samoan parliamentarians on the requirements and good practices of anti-corruption implementations.

It is also anticipated that this workshop will encourage further deliberation of anti-corruption reform in Samoa, consistent with the requirements of U.N.C.A.C. in addition to raising awareness of the assistance available to Samoa in executing U.N.C.A.C. under the joint U.N.D.P.-U.N.O.D.C ‘U.N. regional Anti-Corruption’ (U.N.P.R.A.C.) Project.

The work shop for Parliamentarians took place Thursday at the Tofilau Eti Alesana Building, Mulinuu.

So far, 170 States have endorsed the convention including 10 from the Pacific. Samoa has yet to ratify the convention.

This is despite Samoa being a member of the Pacific Islands Forum, which speci f i c ally recognised corruption as a problem in 2004, a decade ago.

At the time, The 2004 Forum Leaders Communiqué stated: “Leaders invited members to consider signing and ratifying the UN Convention against Corruption to strengthen good governance.”

Debate on the convention was first raised at the United Nations in December 2000, with negotiations taking nearly two years to complete, from 21 January 2002 and 1 October 2003.

The Convention approved by drafting committee was adopted by the General Assembly by resolution 58/4 of 31 October 2003, and entered into force on 14 December 2005.

When the U.N.P.R.A.C. project was launched in 2012, it was noted that the Pacific region had “the world’s lowest ratification rate” for the convention.

According to the U.N.D.P. website, the 10 countries that had signed to the convention by December last year were the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. U.N.P.R.A.C. was launched in 2012 and runs through to 2016, with funding support from Australia of $5.5 million tala over four payments.

The latest tranche, of $1.3 million tala, was due in February this year, with the final tranche in February 2015.

In its situational analysis of the region, the U.N.P.R.A.C. project document states that “In the Pacific, it is clearly evident that corruption hurts the poor disproportionately, hinders economic development, undermines State accountability and capacity to provide equitable and responsive public services, and diverts investments from infrastructure, institutions and social services.

“Furthermore, corruption fosters an anti-democratic environment characterized by uncertainty, unpredictability and declining moral values and disrespect for constitutional institutions and the rule of law.

“Corruption, therefore, reflects a democracy, human rights and governance deficit that negatively impacts on poverty and human security and undermines the ability of countries in the region to achieve the MDGs”, the Millennium Development Goals.

Last year, U.N.D.P. supported member countries to mark the International Anti-Corruption Day on 9th December, after earlier attending the fifth session of the Conference of the States Parties to U.N.C.A.C. in Panama.

The theme of last year’s event was “Zero corruption, 100% development.”

At the time, Manager of the United Nations Development Programme (U.N.D.P.) Pacific Centre, Dr Peter Batchelor, said “Corruption remains one of the most significant barriers to reducing poverty, both in the Pacific and globally.

“International Anti-Corruption Day provides an important opportunity for raising awareness and building commitment to fight corruption, and the growing commitment to anti-corruption in the region is to be commended,” he said, referring to Pacific Island Countries (P.I.C.).

In the U.N.P.R.A.C. project document, the U.N.D.P. notes that “One of the most serious obstacles to tackling corruption is the variable political will at political and senior government official level in many P.I.C.’s.”

The challenge of “political will” is a common challenge for political governance, reads the document.

“The Project seeks to specifically address this issue by undertaking specific work with the Members of Parliament who comprise the Executive in most P.I.C.’s.

“Notably, U.N.D.P. already has extensive experience and strong networks in the Pacific region in working with parliamentarians to promote awareness and in building capacity to address substantive development issues.”

The project document states that U.N.D.P. supports parliamentary development activities in countries throughout the region, with standalone projects in Solomon Islands, Palau and Kiribati and on-going assistance via the Pacific Centre to Tuvalu, Tonga, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Samoa and Vanuatu.

“U.N.D.P. will continue to utilise its national parliamentary support projects as a vehicle to strengthen parliamentarian commitment to U.N.C.A.C. ratification and implementation.

“U.N.D.P. will continue to provide training to M.P.s on U.N.C.A.C. and anti-corruption issues generally, both by integrating these issues into post-election induction seminars, as well as by holding stand-alone workshops on topics such as accountability institutions, ethics and disclosure regimes, freedom of information and anticorruption criminal law.”