IT is said that where there is smoke, there is fire. In our case, it seems smoke is bellowing everywhere – in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development via the shipping grants, in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and even in the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development.

Introducing his National Anti-Corruption Strategies (NACS) recently Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare named the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification and the Ministry of Forest and Research as two problem ministries which must be placed on the corruption watch list.

He may be right.

But the fact that other ministries are not mentioned by name does not necessarily mean there is no smoke there. There is. What it simply means is that no one is prepared to blow the whistle either for fear of reprisals or being part of what is going on.

As we have seen over the years, participants keep a tight rein on what is going on. Those who suffer are the people of Solomon Islands, particularly those in the rural areas.

As a result, the gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” just keeps getting wider.

Let’s look at the MID’s shipping grants, which is being slowly turned into a pool of kickbacks for ministers and senior government officials. We learn that in last year’s $78 million funding grants, up to three Ministers allegedly shared $2 million in kickbacks.

A senior official also reportedly used his influence to excise $1 million from a recipient of the grants in order to complete his house being built in Honiara. Payments of kickbacks seem to be pre-arranged a condition it seems, for approval of the grants.

Many of these individuals are being used as conduits for the wrong reason. They own no ships neither are they involved in the transport industry. Yet, according to records, they receive phenomenal amounts of money from the grants.

Disappointingly, there’s nothing to show for the money they’ve drawn from the grants.

In the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, police are reportedly probing the $30 million tourism development allocation of four or so years ago. Through the blind-lead-the –blind decision made by the Gordon Darcy Lilo government, the control of tourism funding in the development budget was given on a platter to Members of Parliament. It’s a decision akin to allowing Dracula to look after a blood bank overnight.

It’s decision that had far-reaching implications since for the development sector.

In 2017 for instance, donors displeased with such idiocy, decided to cut back their funding support by 58 per cent, according to Finance Minister, Snyder Rini, when he announced the year’s budget outline in December 2016.

The sad thing about this is that instead of seeing tourism-related developments in the rural area, there’s none, except perhaps in the Western Province. Even sadder still is the fact that most of the funding like everything else ended up with cronies of MPs, not necessarily the people who have had some knowledge of the industry.

In the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, concerns are being raised about payments to SIG-sponsored students who have, in effect signed a contract.

Under the contract they are entitled to receive an X amount of money for their rentals, stipends and so on. There are reports that senior officials in the Ministry are cutting the students allowances without any explanation – a tragedy indeed.

So where is our nation headed?

Can we stem the flow? There’s a flicker of hope. Last week one senior government minister was arrested. Cases of at least five other Ministers are pending.

It’s time to end the free run of corruption