The National Coalition for Rural Advancement Government has acknowledged the donors’ help in getting Parliament to finish the Political Parties Integrity Bill in time for the 2014 general elections.
The Government’s news magazine, The Nation reports without the general support of Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and the European Union, Parliament would not have completed the implementation of the Political Parties Integrity Act in time for the general elections later this year.
The NCRA Government has described the parliament’s passing of the PPI Act as one of its major achievements and has attributed the success to the three donor partners.
The report said the integrity act had been a difficult one to put together but it was one of the government’s crucial reforms.
It added the government had put a lot of efforts into it because it will pave the way for political changes in the way political parties look after themselves, and how governments and oppositions are formed after elections.
The report said one of the tough tussles was to convince MPs to pass the Bill despite it being unconstitutional, adding the government’s position was that the sanctity of the Constitution must always be protected and only when it can no longer work within the requirement of the Constitution that an amendment can be developed.
By George Atkin