By Jack Lapauve Jr – EMTV News, Port Moresby
The Catholic Bishops conference of PNG and Solomon Islands is concerned with the lack of consultative process by the Government. Archbishop Rochus Tatamai, says for 8 years the constant shift of education policies has hindered the delivery of education services provided by the Catholic church. He says the Government, through the Education and Higher Education Department, failed to consult the church as a development partner.
Bishop Tatamai says for structure 1-6-6, cost benefit analysis was never done. He says for unknown reasons the state failed to talk to the church.
“We feel we have been neglected and left out of important inputs before policies and guidelines are finalised and implemented”, said Bishop Tatamai.
The matter concerns the transfer of Catholic-run teacher colleges to the Higher Education Department. Similar concerns were raised for the Online selection, where Catholic agencies were left out. The church also noticed that grants budgeted by the State for churches has been paid less than one-third of the allocated proportion.
While the church dislikes delving into politics, The CBC says the rate of corruption at all levels of Government, including the private sector, is of equal concern.
Again the promise of establishing the ICAC Bill was questioned by the church.
