THE Parliamentary Opposition Group is calling on the Ministry of Development Planning and Aid Coordination (MDPAC) to inform the public which ministries had already submitted their 2016 development budget work plans.
To add on, MDPAC must also inform the people accordingly as to which ministries had had their submissions approved.
The Opposition made this call purposely to ensure that line ministries and their officials are doing their job as required.
“So often our people are kept in the dark on government implementation of its development budget. It is time that such activity is brought to light and MDPAC being the coordinating ministry in the implementation of the development budget is urged to inform the people of Solomon Islands which ministries are doing the right thing and which ministries are not,” it said.
The Opposition Group statement said ministries must be transparent and therefore such information should not be confined from the people.
“Line ministries must do their job effectively as it has always been a common practice that time and time again ministries failed to fully implement their development budgets and as a result the country have not been experiencing positive developmental changes,” it said.
“The tax payers of this country will be paying an estimated $1,099.6miilion under the 2016 budget for payroll and housing for those who are charged with the responsibility of implementing government programs. This is a huge cost for the country and the people of this country need to see tangible outcomes and not decorated volumes of books only good for collecting dusts on the shelves.”
The Opposition Group also encouraged Government workers within the line ministries to be committed in helping the Government of the day to implement its programs.
“If need be MDPAC must take tough and timely actions against line ministries that failed to submit their annual work programs on time. The Opposition Group expects the minister and his officials to take action on this issue and to allow the public to be properly informed,” it said.
