The Leader of the Opposition Hon. Matthew Wale has highlighted the heavy responsibility of running a government and stressed the need for integrity and accountability in leadership.
Contributing to the motion of sine die, Hon. Wale reminded National Leaders that they serve as trustees on behalf of the people, and that abandoning this role leads directly to poor governance and deteriorating public trust.
“The business of running government is a very onerous and serious responsibility. It is after all the people’s government. Those animating and exercising government are trustees. If leaders lose sight of the trusteeship, then what follows is bad governance, bad decision making, and poor choices,” Hon. Wale said.
Hon. Wale warned that the consequences of such failures are not limited to the walls of Parliament but are felt by every citizen throughout the Solomon Islands.
“No one should be conducting themselves as if they own the government alone, and use their position in government for their own personal benefit. We know human nature tends to pull against what is right and good for everyone, because the human heart, above all, is deceitful,” Hon. Wale stated.
Hon. Wale called on all members of Parliament to maintain a system of checks and balances to guard against corruption and uphold the public’s faith in their institutions.
“It is precisely because of the human condition that we all have a responsibility as leaders to hold each other to account not only for the benefit of the country, but also to help each other to not fall into the traps of self-interest and greed, and thereby bring the public offices we occupy into disrepute and erode the people’s trust in their government,” Hon. Wale noted.
“It is very important that the people trust their government to be doing the best for them. When poor decisions or choices are made, it smacks of compromise, and rightly or wrongly, the people lose trust. We must be jealous in protecting the people’s trust” Hon. Wale concluded.
- Opposition Press
