Post Courier Editorial
We all have to admit our failures and there are many but one that stands out is the manner we have exercised our freedoms at national elections in the last two decades.
In every one of these elections, we did not go to the polls to vote to change our electorates, our provinces and country but rather our own status. We voted candidates whom we believed would change our situation in our lives, to fix our own individual problems so look where we are now.
Two months ago, Minister for Provincial Affairs and Local Level Government, Soroi Eoe told us, apart from only four provincial governments, the others did not submit their financial and operational reports to his department, going back many years. This, he said, is a breach of Section 119 of the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Government.
The Auditor General’s Office (AGO) has not audited the books of government departments and agencies or government programs that have attracted huge funding like the education Fee Free Tuition policy, the Connect PNG Program or the District Services Improvement Program going back many years because it has no money. Shockingly still, more than 100 audit reports the AGO had compiled are gathering dust in Parliament.
The Auditor General, the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, the Ombudsman Commission, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Royal PNG Constabulary, and many other state agencies established to keep the government and the public service in check are not working as they should.
The Government has now created a new agency – Monitoring and Coordination Authority – to monitor and coordinate all expenditure of public funds. At its launch, the Prime Minister announced we had spent K214 billion in the last 14 years but there was nothing on the ground to show for this massive expenditure.
We are not surprised at all. We have nil accountability and transparency because we lack robust, reliable real time data due to the shortcomings in our reporting practices.
Things will improve for us when we improve this.