A new measure has been set in place to combat mismanagement of Public funds. The Department of Finance and United Nation Development Program yesterday expanded their ‘Phone Against Corruption’ initiative to 44 government agencies.
The ‘Phone Against Corruption’ concept is to allow public servants and the general public to text a toll free number to report instances of mismanagement of public funds.
Trailed in 2014 by the Department of Finance and UNDP,the concept has seen over 500 reports to the toll free number 16321. With over 70 cases in various stages of investigation, 10 have been completed, 5 are before the courts and 2 have resulted in conviction.
Finance Secretary, Ken Ngangan who has been behind the initiative since conception in 2014 said its time people prevent public funds from being stolen instead of waiting for the crime to be committed. Ngangan says with this initiative, it shows the need for all spending government agencies to have internal audit committee in place.
UNDP representative Tracy Vienings says the initiative has received regional and international recognition as an inspiring anti-corruption mechanism. A workshop was held yesterday on the expansion and had government agencies and development partners in attendance for discussion on ways to improve the concept.
Head of National Fraud and anti-corruption Matthew Damaru says an improvement would be getting the public to understand how they should structure their report.
