Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has highlighted in Parliament on Tuesday (03.12.24) that despite Government releasing increased funding to the provinces and districts, those responsible for reporting as dictated by law have not done so as expected.
Prime Minister Marape made this observation as he urged public servants to step up for effective delivery of services, including reporting on how they use allocated funds.
Prime Minister Marape made the call during a debate on a report presented in Parliament by Minister for Public Service Hon. Joe Sungi.
The report titled, Statistical Report on the Public Service Human Resource Management Operations in the Provinces and Districts, shows the total number of public servants in each province and district throughout the country, highlighting also human resource issues that are contributing to why provincial administrations are not being effective.
In commenting on points raised on the report by other MPs, especially on the issue of housing for public servants, Prime Minister Marape stated that since his Government came into office, there has been a lot of money sent out to the provinces and districts, some of which could be used to build housing.
For instance, he said, if it costs K250,000 to build a three-bed room house, a Member of Parliament receiving District Services Improvement Program funds every year would be able to build several by the time five years of his term was up.
He also said in the case of the Member for Goilala, he had simple teachers’ house built for K50,000 just so teachers would have a place to live and work in his electorate.
Prime Minister Marape added that the problem with many MPs is that they are not focused on what they should do and end up spending money elsewhere.
On the issue of reporting to Waigani on the funds received, Prime Minister Mar- ape said that he would soon present a report in Parliament to show which provincial administrators have been reporting on the funds they received.
A similar report by the Chief Secretary will be furnished on how many government departmental heads have reported back to Government.
“The law spells it clearly. Section 63 of Public (Finance) Management Act says a report must come in to Waigani by March 31 every year. Section 32 Public Service Management Act also says report must come in to Waigani by March 31 on the funds that went out,” he said.
Prime Minister Marape also commented on the report’s statistics that shows that there are a total of 132, 295 public servants, excluding those working with the Judiciary and the Parliamentary services.
He said if, estimating that the country’s population is at 10 million people, public servants would make up only 1.3 percent of that number, consuming a large chunk of government budget. In 2023, this added up to more than K5 billion.
Prime Minister Marape highlighted that he had no issue with Government paying public servants but said they must work commensurate to the pay, especially when a global report has stated that the effectiveness of the PNG public service stands at 18.7 percent which is poor.