Ministers say funds being diverted
Written by Writer on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Ministers say funds being diverted
Wednesday 22nd October, 2008
Post-Courier Online
Two senior government ministers yesterday said the Government was diverting millions of kina that could be used in other vital areas to address the law and order problem in the country.
Health and HIV/AIDS Minister Sasa Zibe and Petroleum and Energy Minister William Duma yesterday said other sectors were suffering because of the escalating law and order problems in the country.
Mr Duma while announcing a K500,000 gift to the hospital appealed to the young people to behave and let the Government spend money equally on all sectors instead of throwing everything in an attempt to address law and order problems.
The two were speaking at the Mt Hagen General Hospital on Monday while officiating at the opening of the hospital’s Heart Diagnostic Unit, which is the only one outside of Port Moresby.
The ministers said drugs, HIV/AIDS and other issues were all law and order related and the young people needed to be responsible to tackle the issues rather than being part of an already deteriorating atmosphere.
“If there is less law and order problem in the country, the Government could evenly allocate money to every sector. But if the law and order situation keeps on rising, a bigger portion will have to go there,” Mr Duma said about government funding.
On a similar note, the Hagen MP said since Independence no government had solved all the problems the country was faced with and it was the same with the Somare-Temu government.
“When Wingti, Chan, Morauta, Namaliu or Skate were the Prime Ministers, their government never fixed the problems the country was faced with. It is the same with the current government,” Mr Duma said. He said the country was faced with a critical problem with a very fast growth and a slow economy and it would be unrealistic to dream of any fast recovery.
“The Government depends a lot on income and corporate taxes to generate its revenue. Only 700,000 to 800,000 Papua New Guineans are in the formal sector while about five to six million have no formal employment. They don’t pay taxes. Governments divert a lot of money to law and order because of our own fault,” Mr Duma said.
