Corruption in Papua New Guinea

Corruption is rife in Papua New Guinea (PNG). According to The Economist, “PNG's governments are notorious for corruption, and ever run the risk of turning the state into a fully-fledged ”.

Transparency International's 2016 Corruption Perception Index ranks the country 136th place out of 176 countries.

Papua New Guinea is below the satisfactory levels set by the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), according to a report submitted by Transparency International Papua New Guinea (TIPNG) in 2011. TIPNG’s report found that in many cases, anti-corruption bodies in PNG were restricted by shortcomings in financial resources.

Political corruption in Papua New Guinea is largely enforced by political nepotism and the patronage system of governance. Elected leaders are inclined to seize and distribute resources amongst their electorates in order to secure and maintain popular support. This system of governance is embedded in Melanesian traditions, where the credibility and popularity of a leader amongst his electorate is defined, in part, by the wealth he is able to distribute and the power he is able to wield.

This problem has been compounded, in PNG, by the model of 'politician-turned-businessman' which has dominated the post-1975 political landscape and has muddied the distinctions between business and politics, allowing politicians to divert public monies into their personal accounts. A review of medium-sized businesses in PNG showed that the majority are owned or part-owned by current or former politicians. Misappropriation by public officials was highlighted in a leaked cable by the US Embassy in Port Moresby, which observed that government revenues from industry had “served more to enrich the political elite than to provide social services or infrastructure. There are no large-scale local businessmen, but numerous politicians are relatively well off”.

PNG has enormous resource potential through its natural endowments in mineral deposits, petroleum, forestry, fishing and tourism. However, a 2010 report by Human Rights Watch found that in PNG national revenues from the extractive industries had been widely dissipated through official corruption, without leaving any discernible positive impact on the wider population.

The conflict between Melanesian traditions of ‘sharing and caring’, and anti-bribery legislation is often brought into relief during the election cycle. One candidate in the 2002 elections, Allan Bird, published an open letter documenting his experiences: “I was shattered by the attitude of people on my side of the river whose sole drive in life appears to be to live off government or MP freebies for the rest of their lives… I have even had many individuals tell me in no uncertain terms that if I wanted to be an MP, I must pay (bribe) the voter because that ‘is the way we do things around here’”.

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