By DALCY LULUA
Sinasina-Yongomulg Member of Parliament (MP) Kerenga Kua has disclosed that at the political level, those who are in power are only concerned with self-preservation, self-protection and self-advancement of their positions and privileges and nothing else matters.
“Standards of governments don’t matter, what the people want to see or what they expect is secondary to those in power,” he said.
“We took an oath when we came into the Parliament to serve the people but once people shift their attention elsewhere, we start to look after ourselves.
“Everything we do is aimed at protecting ourselves.
“There are some examples of how this is done but I’ll just pick a few that we are all familiar with.”
The former Energy Minister said the National Budget has become a weapon for the leaders within the Government ranks.
“The budget instrument has been weaponized by the leaders of the Government; we are all leaders but we have ‘leaders’ within the Government as well.
“They pick and choose their projects; everybody in this country needs social development projects but in order to receive proper attention and favour, you’ve got to be in the Government’s ‘inner circle’ get the financial allocations,” Kua said.
He said for those MPs who are not seen to be in favor of the Government there is no visible support from the government.
“You have to come and join the “praise and worship club” and sing hymns to the captain or leader; you do that and you are in line for some budgetary allocations,” Kua said.
“You fail to join the club and your submissions end up in the waste basket.”
Kua said there is no fair distribution of the national budget allocations and as a result, provinces do not get a fairer attention.
“There is no criteria, no formula, no documented Government policy that says that this is the formula by which the State’s limited financial resources will be distributed throughout all the provinces based on the population, land area and development needs,” he said.
“A credible criterion for budgetary allocations is lacking.”
The National Party strongman described the National Budget as discretionary and, therefore, arbitrary budgets.
“Even after the unfair budget is passed into law, when it comes to the implementation stage, the warranty is preferential; it is selective,” Kua said.
“Your money is there in the budget but when you attempt to get a warrant issued, you are pushed back and in the end, you don’t get the allocation because you are not part of the praise and worship club – and that’s not fair.
“The system of making budgets, issuing warrants and the distribution for the implementation of the budget should be automatic without any manipulation based on political loyalties.”
Kua said these hiccups are not good for the country’s overall development agenda when some provinces are given preference over others.
