The establishment of a working committee is high on the agenda as an expected outcome of the three-day National Annual Seminar hosted by FICAC from 7-9 August at the Suva Holiday Inn.

According to FICAC's Principal Corruption Prevention Officer, Siteri Rabici, during the seminar participants will discuss and identify gaps in the current systems that increase the risks of corruption and make relevant recommendations to improve these systems.

“ It is at the end of these discussions and deliberations that we hope to establish a working committee that will develop the framework for the implementation and monitoring of recommendations derived from the seminar. This committee will work with the Corruption Prevention Sector of FICAC on the implementation of the recommendations made by UNCAC as per the National Key Performance Indicator under the National Roadmap 2009-2014, adds Rabici” .

The committee is also responsible for making sure that the institution each member represents sticks to the aims and objectives recommended during the seminar and detailed in the report, after which they will be required to give an update to FICAC on, within a given timeline on the progress of their respective institutions in as far as the implementation and planning of the project is concerned as well as the procurement of goods and services.

“ The working committee will be made up of eight people at maximum. Exceeding that will make reaching an agreement on critical decisions difficult. Eight is manageable for us at this point, says Rabici.

Rabici adds that one of the important things FICAC's Corruption Prevention team will focus on is getting members who understand how important their responsibilities and roles are in this committee. “ Having the right mixture of skills, abilities and experience around the table coupled with the commitment to the role and the aims and objectives of why this committee was established in the first place, is something we will be looking at, says Rabici.”

The main focus of the three-day seminar is to find ways of preventing the mismanagement of public funds and resources, fraud and corruption during the procurement of goods and services and project implementation.