THE UNITED NATIONS Office of Drugs and Crime released a new publications new publication titled “Procurement and Corruption in Small Island Developing States: Challenges and Emerging Practices”.
This publication is intended to serve as a reference guide to addressing corruption in procurement in SIDS for governments, the private sector, academia and civil society, as well as for development assistance providers that work with SIDS.
Some facts contained in this report:
- A recent analysis by the World Bank determined that the performance of small Pacific Island States lags behind that of countries in other regions that have a similar level of income.
- The scores on procurement, internal auditing and strategic budgeting were particularly low.
- Population size is seen as an important limitation to performance. The impact of this factor is most strongly felt in areas where highly specialized resources are required and especially in cases where high-capacity functions have to be carried out by a number of staff and outside of central agencies at the line ministry level.
- In Pacific Island States, some countries lack an established party system. Members of Parliament are often based exclusively in the capital with limited access to communities on outer islands. This can lead to a focus on the capital and to the most vocal constituents, limiting the opportunities of smaller communities to effectively influence the political process.
- Some island States use highly decentralized systems of development in which rural development constituency funds are paid directly to members of parliament, who have discretionary use of these funds. This has its own set of challenges in relation to the control of discretionary powers and the fair allocation of constituency
funds. - Loyalties are often local in Small Island Developing States and citizens feel that they are primarily accountable to their communities, families or churches and not to the central government.
English