Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has sternly advised the parliament and the general public to not take to social media accuse leaders of corruption without evidence to back up those accusations.
The Prime Minister made this statement in line with his response to the questions raised by the member for Moresby North-East, John Kaupa.
“Let me encourage our society out there, not all leaders in Parliament are involved in corrupt activities. If you have evidence file them, ICAC (Independent Commission against Corruption) is up and running. Facebook is not a police station, Facebook is not the Ombudsmen Commission, Facebook is not ICAC.”
He said that this body of leaders in this parliament and the last, are conscious of their duty to their nation. Marape referenced this to the efforts that leaders on both side of the house, put towards the establishment of the ICAC and the government is ready to fund ICAC in its effort to fight corruption.
He also said that it is the collective responsibility of the people to report any corrupt activities to ICAC.
“If there is anybody to be found acting improperly and to have engaged in corruption, the laws that we are setting up will catch up with him or her.”
He further went on to assure the country that this generation of leaders have set up ICAC and they are ready to operationalize it this year.
So far, all three ICAC commissioners have already been appointed and Marape hopes that before the Independence Day celebrations in September, ICAC will be fully operational.