2 Aug 2005

Solomons premier urged to create guidelines for discretionary fund usage

7:05 pm on 2 August 2005

The Solomon Islands Prime Minister is being urged to write down a set of rules for his own discretionary fund, and to stick to them.

The Leadership Code Commission has called off an investigation into payments made from Sir Allen Kemakeza's discretionary fund between 2002 and 2003.

The Commission's chairman, Emmanuel Kouhota, said they couldn't prove any mistakes had been made because there are no guidelines for the fund.

John Roughan of the Solomon Islands Development Trust is calling for disclosure of such funds and for clarity about who can use them and when.

"These funds are given by the donor for the specific purpose, I suspect, and there should be some rules of the road, that here's how these monies should be spent, it cannot simply be a slush fund."