Unless there is a broad consensus to reduce corruption, progress towards the other Sustainable Development Goals is likely to be extremely limited, Kevin Petrini, the Resilience and Sustainable Development team Leader with the UNDP Pacific Office in Fiji, told Tongan members of Parliament last week.

A three-days seminar was held from 25-27 July in Nuku’alofa for Tonga’s members of parliament to have a better understanding of the important role parliaments play in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Funded by the New Zealand Government’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade the seminar focused on specifically understanding Goal 13, relating to Climate Change; and Goal 16, relating to building of effective and accountable institutions to promote peace and inclusive society.

The SDGs are not legally binding but member nations of the United Nations are expected to establish national frameworks for the achievement of the 17 Goals.

Hampers economic growth

However, Kevin told the gathering that corruption represents a major obstacle to reaching all the SDGs as it hampers economic growth and increases poverty, “depriving the most marginalised groups of equitable access to vital services such as healthcare, education and water and sanitation.”

The SDGs were built on the success of the Millennium Development Goals and the Tongan government has localised the SDGs when in 2015 it endorsed the Tonga Sustainable Development Framework 2015-2025.

The Speaker of the Tongan Parliament Lord Tu’ivakano was hopeful that at the end of the seminar, members will have a better understanding of the issues “so that they can effectively carry out their parliamentary roles for representation, law making and oversight.”

Potential

The New Zealand High Commissioner to Tonga, Sarah Walsh, in her opening speech reminded parliamentarians that they have “the potential to be powerful agents of change.”

Following the seminar, the Tongan Parliament was supposed to resume its 2017-2018 session today, 31 July, -  but it could not proceed because it did not have a quorum.

The House has been in recess since 29 June, after it passed the 2017-2018 National Budget to enable People Representatives to visit their constituents and to plan how to spend their Constituents Fund Allocations with their electorates.