HONOURABLE Jeremiah Manele has questioned why elected Members of Parliament were not engaged during the consultation of the National Anticorruption Strategy (NACS).

The Leader of the Official Opposition made the statement when contributing to the motion on the strategy this week.

“Sir, while I acknowledge the provincial consultations that were undertaken in preparing the strategy, I wonder why we the elected people of this country have not been engaged in the consultations.

“Or was it only those of us from this side of the house that have not been given the opportunity to be consulted,” said Manele.

He then added that from his personal opinion, he would have thought that with such an issue as this, the elected people who are often accused of corruption should have been given the opportunity to participate in the consultations.

“Sir, be that as it may, all the factors or sources of corruption identified in the strategy are real in our country today. We cannot deny their existence and practice.

“We have for example cases of improper procurement of public goods and services that have been investigated and prosecuted,” Hon Jeremiah Manele added.