THE NATIONAL – A Papua New Guinea Cabinet Minister has directed the PNG National Broadcasting Corporation board and management to produce results by next month or face the consequences.
Communication and Information Technology Minister Jimmy Miringtoro sounded the warning following the Auditor-General’s report on the State-owned radio and television station, which revealed cases of mismanagement of funds and assets running into millions of kina.
Miringtoro directed the board and management to take stock of all NBC assets, carry out a feasibility study on the roll-out of Kundu TV to the provinces and implement the Auditor-General’s report.
“NBC is a problematic organisation. Successive boards and management have messed it up since after independence,” he said.
“People have not been working honestly to help NBC grow. Before independence, NBC was seen as a trail-blazer in this country.
“NBC had been echoing important government information in the most remote areas in the highlands and the island provinces.
“NBC should have by now grown and rolled out into provinces and the most remote areas and be able to sustain itself.
“But that has never happened. Instead it has survived through the government’s annual funding.”
Miringtoro said the Auditor-General’s report revealed that a lot of NBC land had been sold without proper documentation. He said another area of concern in the report was the purchase of vehicles worth about K4 million (US$1.6 million) from a local car dealer without any evidence that the cars were used by the corporation.
“A lot of things have been hidden from me. The administration and the management hasn’t come out very clear on some of these things,” he said. “I have issued directives which haven’t been taken seriously and followed.
“In order for NBC to work properly the board and the management must work in unison.”
– The National
