Prime Minister James Marape said the government has set up National Monitoring Authority (NMA) to monitor the 96 districts in the country and if a leader misuses public funds, they will be prosecuted by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
“It must not be forgotten that my government has set up ICAC and is empowering it with tools in the Proceeds of Crime Act to go down hard on those who siphon off public money meant for development.”
“To balance and ensure that the money is put to good use, the National Government is setting up the NMA to monitor the work of each DDA, Provincial Government and National Department”.
Prime Minister said this when clearing the air on the increase in each District Service Improvement Program (DSIP) funds to K20 million this year.
“This K20 million is not free money for MPs. It is not free money for individual MPs but people’s money through their respective districts and provinces” Marape said.
“The allocation is based on outcomes we want districts and provinces to achieve in terms of better education, health, infrastructure, law-and-order and economy.
Prime Minister outlined the funding purpose and break up.
“Out of the K20 million, K10 million is for DSIP, K5 million is for infrastructure development, and the balance of K5 million is based on a kina-for-kina allocation that is consistent with key Government programmes.
“Our Pangu Pati-led National Government is focused on better education, health, infrastructure, law-and-order and our people’s involvement in businesses.
“To ensure that these focus areas have maximum impact, and reach out to as many of our people as possible, we have increased the DSIP so that District Developments Authorities (DDAs) and Provincial Governments have money to carry out their programmes.”
PM Marape said NMA will strictly monitor to ensure that the funds serve the intended purpose and if not the ICAC would prosecute leaders who diverted and misused the public funds.
