Page 28 - IB March 2021

Opinion

and solidarity from members and regional leaders, especially cooperation and integration and enhanced benefits can be
as the re-union will also mark the dawn of the 2050 Strategy. exciting.
But should the fracture be deep-seated, and a resuscitation In all that is happening - recent past and present, Fiji’s
of the 18-member PIF is untenable, then it is possible that the Bainimarama government is being viewed as an odd man out.
Micronesians will prefer their next best collective option; that The shenanigans at USP in recent weeks and the resulting
is, to remain and strengthen their own subregional Microne- offers to host the university and its VCP outside of Fiji, have
sian Chief Executive Summit (MCES). re-enforced that view. The question becomes: what is likely
That strategic move is likely to impact the remaining 13 to happen with Fiji - at the MSG for instance? In the MSG
members who would feel the same to do likewise with their context, Fiji was the last to join the group. Should there be a
own respective sub-regions: the Melanesian Spearhead Group strong anti-Fiji feeling there, it is foreseeable that Fiji will be
(MSG) for the Melanesians, the Polynesian Leaders Group dispensable.
(PLG) for the Polynesians and perhaps Australia and New At the regional level, however, Fiji’s position can be a
Zealand will fall back onto their Australia-New Zealand Closer lot more tolerable. Again, geography and Fiji’s centrality in
Economic Relations (ANZCER). the Pacific may dictate the way we transact our affairs and
If this reformatting by the remaining 13 members is going regionalism. In any case, Fiji political leaders, in particular,
on in the context of the SPF, to which PIF has become, then it have to up the ante when it comes to charm, solidarity and
is possible that the reformatting could advance to the stage respect in order to recover past glory.
where regionalism, in the form of SPF, formally and structur- Our ‘Pacific Way’ is fast losing its shine.
ally becomes the sum of all three subregions.
Later, if and when the Micronesians return to the fold, the editor@islandsbusiness.com
brand-new regionalism that will unfold - the new PIF, will be
the sum of four subregional groupings. In retrospect, Pacific The author is a former Fijian Ambassador and Foreign
regionalism in the last five decades has never experienced Minister and runs his own consultancy company in Suva, Fiji.
that state of structural solidarity. The prospects for advanced
Region

BIG AUDIT FAIL

By Jason Brown on capacity development of auditors.
“When funding was reduced, there was no longer the abil-
Missing in action—an accountability and transparency report ity to do all the planned activities under each of the priority
due three years ago in 2018 from PASAI, the Pacific Associa- areas, so the focus moved to activities more directly linked to
tion of Supreme Audit Institutions. supporting auditor capacity development.”
Promised every three years, PASAI last published an Ac- Previous Accountability and Transparency Report reports
countability and Transparency Report back in 2015, nearly highlighted “various weaknesses in public financial manage-
six years ago. An online review by Islands Business found no ment processes and auditor capacity, so the findings from
evidence of whether the 2018 report was completed, or what past reports continue to inform planning and design of PASAI
might have happened to it. activities.”
What is available publicly from 2018 is an independent What remains unexplained is how an independent strategy
strategy review, reporting wide “interference” by Pacific review found interference reported by island auditors, but
governments in audit affairs. none was reported to the PASAI secretariat.
However the PASAI Secretariat has denied that’s why the The scale of challenges facing regional auditors was
reports are missing – blaming a lack of funding instead. highlighted in a piece published on the OAG weblog, titled
“The 2018 report was not completed because PASAI did not “Six questions with Sarah Markley, Director of International
have sufficient funding to complete all its planned activities,” Engagement.”
said Mike Heine, Communications Manager for Office of the Questioned about the greatest challenge facing the public
Auditor General New Zealand, which acts as the secretariat sector, Markley identified the maintenance of “meaningful”
for PASAI. citizen engagement.
Audit New Zealand also claims that there was no negative “The big question facing our democratic and administrative
feedback from island states, or their audit services to earlier systems right now is: How do we engage, and then how do we
reports. deal with and deliver what people want?” asks Markley.
Director of International Engagement Sarah Markley how- “What role should the public sector play in identifying and
ever told Islands Business that “this was initially a funding providing ‘truth’ to our citizens?”
issue, followed by issues with travel restrictions because of A limited one it appears, so far.
Covid-19.
Markley also said PASAI is “primarily an organisation focused editor@islandsbusiness.com

28 Islands Business, March 2021