The Premier of Makira Ulawa Province Julian Maka’a has claimed the Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF) has taken over the normal job descriptions of the provincial office staff.
He made the claim while giving his opening remarks at the start of an 18-day induction training workshop in Kira Kira, the provincial capital of Makira Ulawa Province on February 17 which is being conducted by an induction training team from the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening Program in Honiara.
Mr. Maka’a said while “my four weeks old administration embraces the PCDF’s intentions for our people, we also see how it places overarching weight on the administrative and legislative ordinances, more especially the Financial Management Ordinance.
“In-fact today, it is taking over the whole provincial government mechanism and while we embrace it, we, as a government must relook at how best it can serve rather than to disqualify the province and other provinces,” he said.
He wanted to know what can the people of Makira Ulawa Province achieve from the PCDF’s original purpose, the very people it once professed to serve, adding today too, the province does not deserve seed service grants that were previously given to the provinces under devolution orders, as they are now tied to PCDF’s rules of accountability and transparency.
Mr. Maka’a also asked, what then can “my provincial government deserve as a government when even records of how service grants are used are retired before we can request another service grant?
He added that bureaucratic bottlenecks are dictating the government service delivery system down at rural areas.
Meanwhile, Premier Maka’a said the induction training is timely as his government is putting together its policy statement which will be launched on March 20.
He said whatever experiences members of the induction training team and other high-level government officials may have had while in Makira speak volumes themselves of real situations in Makira Ulawa Province.
The experiences may include poor communications, muddy and bumpy roads, transport problems and daily battles between the rain and the sun.
By George Atkin
In Kira Kira
