The Ba Town Council’s duty is to adopt anti-corruption as part of its culture and operations as well as to ensure it is followed by every individual.
Council CEO Priya Pritika Singh made the remark last week when they became the second municipal council to join the “I don‟t accept bribes” campaign, receiving their badges on Tuesday, December 14, 2021.
Ms Singh thanked the Fiji Independent Commission Against Corruption (FICAC) for considering Ba Town Council to be part of the campaign and the launch symbolised the proactive approach in the prevention of crimes such as corruption.
She said this showed the needs for the council to start working on having an anti-corruption policy that would help them build confidence in its employees, stakeholders, and suppliers and that the council has a zero-tolerance for bribery and corruption.
Ms Singh reiterated that it was important to root out corruption and to have strong internal control processes in every department in ensuring the values of integrity, transparency and accountability are maintained.
FICAC Manager Investigations West/North Uwate Biutanaseva thanked the council for volunteering to join the fight against bribery and being the second municipal council in the Western Division to join the campaign.
“Municipal councils in the country face a lot of challenges in finding avenues to eradicate corruption.
“In the past, we have witnessed a number of council officers around the country convicted with corruption offences, this may be due to many factors such as greed, dishonesty, and lack of integrity among these officers. The call is on us now, to design viable strategies in order to strengthen our internal processes that have the capabilities and capacities to shut out all opportunities for corruptions,” Mr Biutanaseva said.
He says bribery is a phenomenon that is difficult to tackle and a problem Fiji cannot afford to ignore.
The campaign is supported by UNDP under the United Nations Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption (UN-PRAC) project funded by the New Zealand Government.
