By GEORGINA MICHAEL
ABAU MP Sir Puka Temu has raised concerns in Parliament over structural problems preventing Members of Parliament (MPs) from accessing El Niño disaster relief funds due to conflicting financial instructions.
Sir Puka raised the issue during Question Time yesterday, saying he had been advised by his District Finance Manager that districts were unable to access the funds because of a lack of communication between the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) and the National Banking Corporation (NBC).
He said all the disaster funds are parked in NBC, but the financial instruction issued last week calls for District Finincial Managers (DFM) to open BSP accounts instead.
“Because all the funds are parked in NBC, the financial instruction says suppliers must open up their BSP, no other banks, and then the district must establish trust accounts as per the financial instruction that was delivered to all the DFMs last week,” he said.
“So, we have a structural problem with regards to accessing these funds through this financial instruction.” Sir Puka said.
He called on the Minister for Disaster Hon. Dr. Billy Joseph and the Minister for Finance Hon. Thomas Opa to urgently sort out the issue, as other Members of Parliament are likely facing the similar problems.
In response, Minister for Health and National Disaster Hon. Dr. Billy Joseph confirmed that K304 million has been released by the Department of Finance to a trust account in NBC Bank.
“I know that K304 million has been released from the Department of Finance to a trust account in the NBC bank. We all have seen the financial instructions, and we are following that, and we are accessing the funds,” he said.
Minister Joseph encouraged the member for Abau Sir Puka Temu to visit the finance minister and sort the issue out as the matter would be best addressed by the Minister for Finance Hon. Thomas Opa.