Researchers look at poverty and corruption in Tonga [1]
Tuesday, November 11, 2003 - 15:25. Updated on Sunday, May 11, 2014 - 10:52.
The state of Poverty and Corruption in Tonga was highlighted by researchers in Nuku'alofa at the end of October.
A study on corruption in Tonga carried out by researchers from the Australian National University, focused on Tonga's National Integrity System. Dr Peter Larmour, from the National Centre for Development Studies at ANU said that the ultimate goal of a National Integrity System was to promote good government and good governance. The study was commissioned by Transparency International Australia and funded by AusAID. Peter said that the research on Tonga, which had been carried out by Dr Kerry James, should be completed early next year and it would be made available to the public in March 2004. He said that the work of Transparency International was "to prevent corruption, looking at a system and a way a country is structured to prevent corruption."
Meanwhile, after looking at poverty in Tonga, researchers from the Asian Development Bank, led by David Abbott presented their findings. David said that poverty in Tonga was not the same as the extreme poverty that is taking place in third world countries in Asia and Africa. He said that the situation in Tonga, as in other small Pacific countries, "is hardship not poverty, the difficulty of having access to medical centres, to a school and to a telephone".
This ADB researchers report will also be made accessible to the public in March 2004.