Prime Minister James Marape yesterday afternoon in a statement clarified on the subject of Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited’s (MVIL) BSP shares sale submission, pointing out that the Cabinet has a stringent due process in place for all submissions it receives and approves.
He said this due process includes the recently introduced Secret Ballot, that ministers vote in whose result becomes the accepted decision of the Cabinet, with him having no one-man influence or role in the decision-making of Cabinet as chair.
“All submissions that come to Cabinet originate from a sponsoring agency or department that funnels it all the way up through the Minister responsible.
“It must be circulated to relevant departments and agencies. After it has been retired by the relevant departments, it is then funneled through the Ministerial Economic Committee, if it is an economic sector paper, or the Ministerial Social Sector committee, if it is not.” He said.
Then it comes out through the Central Agencies Coordinating Committee (CACC) process where matters pertaining to budget must get Treasury clearance and matters with legal implications must get State Solicitors clearance.
“Then the paper comes to Cabinet with those necessary clearances,” Mr. Marape said.
He said for the MVIL shares, the submission was the decision of both the boards of MVIL and Kumul Consolidated Holdings Limited (KCHL) with the Minister for State-Owned Enterprises, William Duma bringing it to Cabinet.
“The proposal to sell the BSP shares is part of the approach by KCHL to liquidate assets, where possible, to be able to beef up investments in other utilities such as power and water.” He said.
The Prime Minister noted that the proceeds are earmarked to improve generation and transmission of power in Port Moresby and Lae.
Meanwhile, West New Britain Provincial Member, Sasindran Muthuvel also in a statement has called on the government to prioritize Papua New Guineans in the sale of MVIL shares in BSP Financial Group.
Mr Muthuvel said: “the NEC decision that gave effect to the selling of shares has no explicit directive to ensure these shares are exclusively sold to Papua New Guineans.”
He highlighted that majority ownership of BSP shares are one of the biggest assets our country has to date.
“we simply cannot let our troubling economic situation be the reason to make such rash decisions.” He said.
“BSP is intrinsically PNG, and PNG’s reliance on BSP for jobs, economic growth and banking services makes us BSP’s biggest customer base. We must look at the full picture and the future impacts down the line if we do not handle this sale with caution and due diligence,” Mr. Muthuvel said.
