By By KEVIN TEME - Post Courier
Mismanagement and misuse of Infrastructure Development Grants is rife in Hela Province.
A public servant from Hela Province Max Ekeya revealed this in an email sent to this paper.
“Especially in the new Hela Province, there seem to be huge mismanagement of funds especially the Business Development Grants (BDG) and IDG by landowners and the Provincial Government,” Ekeya said.
“Since the intervention of Exxon Mobile through its partnership with Oil Search PNG Limited in operations of PNG LNG Project, we the landowners and the provincial government have been funded millions through those projects and business funds we do not have anything to show,” Ekeya said.
Ekeya said regarding assets and wealth that the provincial government has no solid infrastructure that signifies such expenditure.
Ekeya said despite their own weakness they tend to disrupt the projects unnecessarily in demanding for more money from the developer causing the developer millions in damages which he said was wrong.
“Despite all these millions of kina through project funds have been allocated to the land owners and the provincial Government as per the UBBSA and LBBSA agreement, we all are losers and yet we are demanding for more, while the rest of the land owners, and entire Hela is in Darkness,” Ekeya said.
Ekeya said now that all the IDG grants pipped into Hela Provincial Government’s account which is by law are the responsible authority to take charge of, there’s hardly any development that has come out from the IDG funds.
“We were given Hela Province on a golden plate, thanks to the Somare Government and our Late Governor Anderson Agiru but we are still living in the dark caves while few rich are getting richer while the rest are poor and marginalized and living with hunger, tribal warfare, chaos and anarchy in our own communities,” Ekeya said.
Ekeya said Hela Provincial Government must strategise; plan out by establishing a monitoring and compliance team in collaboration with the Provincial Administration, national government, department of Petroleum and Energy, the developers and other parties concerned on how best they can utilise the landowners by giving them their IDG funds.
“We appeal for the Hela Provincial Government to revisit its expenditure plan for the IDG and establish a strategy how they can fit the landowners who are crying and have missed out on opportunities,” Ekeya said.
Ekeya said the landowners are humans and not barbarians and criminals. They are the owners of the resource (Noko, Apa, Tindi and Apa) and how can the Provincial Government and leaders of our new province continue to suppress them (LOs).
Ekeya said greater landowner participation, greater autonomy and Hela will prosper.
