Prior to the provincial and local level government reforms of 1995, stations and districts were functioning very well with economy.
This was expressed yesterday on the floor of parliament by Oro Governor, Gary Juffa. He said the reforms itself needed to be reviewed as it has weakened the provincial governments. He further emphasized that this is an effective way of getting back on the path of development for the government as a whole.
Member for Abau, Dr. Puka Temu expressed similar sentiments saying that around 1977, all the districts and the stations were functioning well and that enabled the country to thrive.
“Provinces are the pillars of this nation, we have to strengthen them” Juffa said.
In 1995, under the leadership of Prime Minister Sir Julias Chan, the OLPG was repealed and the Organic Law on Provincial Governments and Local Level Governments was enacted, given the National Parliament the powers to grant and to withhold (through legislation) the powers of the provinces and also the local-level governments.
Many aspects of the government were centralized then, one of these aspects being the centralization of revenues, where the provincial governments have to wait for Waigani to receive its revenues from GST.
“Those revenues were the life-blood of the stations and districts” Juffa said.
Additionally, the Oro Governor mentioned resolutions presented to the National Executive Council by the Provincial Governors following the recently held 2023 Governor’s Conference in Port Moresby.
He acknowledged that the Prime Minister had given instructions for the resolutions to be looked into and highly recommended a committee to be established for this to ensure work into the resolutions start as soon as possible.
