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Written by Cherelle Jackson
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Thursday, 17 April 2008 |
Good governance will today be a topic of discussion amongst some pretty influential members of the media in the Pacific region.
Good Governance defined by the World Bank as the manner in which power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources is one of the core concepts of modern day democracy.
In the Pacific the fair exercise of good governance has always been an issue, just flick back to the last twenty years worth of Pacific newspapers and the point will be proven.
Forget the last twenty, just try the last five years alone and you will come across news of corruption, mismanagement, national fraud of one or another type, cases of social injustices, the list goes on.
Of course one only needs to say Fiji, Solomon Islands or need I remind you, Tonga, and the dire disregard for good governance will flash before your eyes, all too clearly.
But Samoa, ah, the Paradise, the picture of Pacific stability, the so-called model economy of the developing island states, the much admired Government of our region, yes, the images of corruption, social injustice and mismanagement of power do not really come to mind, at least on a regional level.
Winston Peters doesn’t help; it seems his favourite thing as of late is to give Samoa effeminate compliments to strike the relevant egos.
Either he refers to Samoa as a pin-up star, a shining star or a beacon of light, come on man, there has got to be better butter up terminologies then that, no offence to your advisors.
Now coming back to the point, Samoa has always been admired as a country with a fair and just Government, complimented by social stability and sprinkled by a healthy economy.
Reality check
Ever since Australia introduced the concepts of Good Governance, Accountability and Transparency as drivers behind aid initiative in Samoa, they have taken on a life of their own.
The terms have played on the lips of Politicians, Community Leaders and Media practitioners, all to promote their own respective interests.
Those who say such words are immediately viewed as those ‘in the know.’
Those who did not know the meaning of such words were immediately disregarded as ‘ignorant.’
But the introduction of those concepts, although admittedly it makes the speeches by foreign diplomats a tad monotonous, they have undeniably brought those issues to public view.
Without it being splashed on the walls of Government Ministries and NGOs, it would otherwise not be discussed.
So has the introduction of good governance as an instigator of a balanced society worked?
Has the re-branding of Aid into these friendly concepts worked for Samoa?
Perhaps it has, structurally and in paper, but in practice there is room for doubt.
Good governance
In 2002 Deputy Prime Minister of Samoa Hon. Misa Telefoni spoke at Georgetown University, in his address he pointed out some of the values of good governance.
“The success of any good governance agenda is directly related to a nations leaders level of integrity,” he was quoted in his speech.
According to Telefoni Aid cannot be effective without good governance as resources are wasted by corruption thus resulting Aid dollars continued decline.
The next he quoted was Lau Dr. Asofou Soo of the National University of Samoa who said: “Traditional culture is anathema to good governance principles."
A strong statement and one that needs no explanation, the culture has its role and more often than not, it clashes with principles of good governance.
But how has Samoa rated in good governance?
As Samoans we all have our own perceptions of good governance and how it should be exercised, but there has been extensive surveys done on the topic analyzing good governance on a national and regional scale.
The World Bank conducted the Good Governance Indicator survey of all member countries in 2007.
We were rated, under four Governance Indicators.
In Voice and Accountability Samoa was ranked 64.4% in 2006, we dropped down from 67.8% in 2002.
In Political Stability Samoas rate showed significant decline from 1998 where we were rated 95.5%, to 2002 rated 83.7% however the percentile rank rose to 88.5% in 2006.
The Government Effectiveness faired less impressive with a consistent decline since 1998.
We were first ranked 65.4% in 1990, 62.6% in 2002 and 57.8% in 2006.
Although the figures do not show an obvious trend of progress or regress it nonetheless shows Samoas ranking in governance on a national scale.
The decline in Government Effectiveness is worrying.
No doubt todays meeting amongst media practitioners from around the region will touch on various aspects of good governance, good or bad.
The media of course play a role in the promotion of good governance, if not as watchdogs of society then at the most, as the voice of the people.
As Arthur Miller did say, a good media is after all a nation talking to itself.
Manuia le Aso Samoa.
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