LEADER of the Opposition Hon. Douglas Tomuriesa has questioned the numerous international trips the Prime Minister, senior Ministers, and Government officials have been, and will be taking, while most of the country’s departments face cash flow problems.
Mr Tomuriesa noted that Prime Minister James Marape and his government have been frequent flyers recently, and seem to have no problem sourcing funds for these trips, yet public servants and departments have had to wait in angst for funding to reach their accounts.
Mr Tomuriesa said: “Mr Marape has been on flight mode recently, flying to New York for the UN General Assembly, flying to Sydney for the NRL grand final, flying to Indonesia for the Presidential inauguration, and another upcoming trip to Samoa for another engagement.
“Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso led a sizable delegation to the United States earlier this month, and now we see news of Administrative Services Minister Richard Masere leading a delegation to Australia to ‘observe’ the Australian state elections.
“And I’m sure there are other state funded trips going on that we don’t know about.
“In different circumstances I would have no issue with the PM, Deputy PM and Ministers travelling overseas to attend to official engagements – we understand this is part of the job.
“But given our public servants, the departments they work for, and key programs have been facing constant funding issues, how exactly is the government able to afford costly plane tickets, hotel accommodation, and per diem allowances in USD or AUD?
“It seems the government is prioritising these international trips while they let our departments suffer and starve until the very last minute to scramble for funding and issue warrants.
“The Opposition is genuinely concerned and interested to know what our financial situation is, since no one from the Prime Minister’s office, Treasury, or Finance has come out to explain why we have money for government activities, but nothing for everyday operations of our public service.”
Mr Tomuriesa also criticised the trip Minister Masere is taking to Australia, calling it “unnecessary and another junket”.
“Have we forgotten who we obtained Independence from? Are we that clueless, or perhaps desperate to travel, that our electoral officers and minister are travelling to Australia to witness an election that uses the exact same voting system as PNG?
“It is quite disgraceful that Mr Masere is using taxpayer funds to go on an unnecessary trip to witness Australian elections when we are in a cash flow crisis.
“It is not like Australia is a completely unfamiliar country so we need to go witness Australian elections for the first time. From 2022-2027, the Electoral Commission’s priority should be implementing electoral reforms to improve the next elections.
“I gather that the PNGEC also travelled to India to observe elections there too. When are they going to work to get the Minister to implement the Special Parliamentary Commission recommendations put forward by Governor Allan Bird into the elections? Said Mr Tomuriesa.
Mr Tomuriesa said it is already well-known what needs to be done to improve our elections, yet the government seems to still be on fact-finding missions to confirm what we already know.
