A new partnership arrangement will see the Australian Government, through the Office of the Commonwealth Ombudsman (OCO), provide support to the Office of the Ombudsman Solomon Islands (OOSI) and the Leadership Code Commission of Solomon Islands (LCC).
The arrangement will support the OOSI and LCC, through tailored activities such as leadership mentoring in organisation reform and staff capability development, aimed at enhancing technical and corporate capability of both accountability Institutions.
Two officers from OCO (Bianca Martin and Andrew Pearce) were in Honiara last month to talk about what activities should be supported under the arrangement.
“This support will really help the LCC improve the way it performs its duties,” said Leadership Code Commission Chair, Solomon Kalu.
The Ombudsman of Solomon Islands, Fred Fakarii agreed, saying that the “tailored support would help OOSI better serve the people of Solomon Islands”.
Australia’s High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, HE Roderick Brazier, recently met with the Australian Ombudsman in Canberra and reiterated Australia’s support to the partnership.
The role of the LCC is to ensure that leaders comply with the Leadership Code.
The key functions of LCC are to, investigate allegations of misconduct in office by government leaders, manage and maintain a Register of Leaders Interests, and promote good governance, accountability and transparency.
Leaders are: all members of national parliament, Provincial assemblies and all public servants at the national and provincial level.
The Ombudsman’s role is to make sure that the Solomon Islands Government acts fairly towards its citizens, to make sure that government decisions are proper and just, and to help improve government administration.
The partnership programME is supported by the Australian Government, through the Solomon Islands Governance Programme.
–AHC
