Opposition leader Douglas Tomuriesa has questioned the numerous international trips by the Prime Minister, senior Ministers and Government officials have been taking, while most of the country’s department are facing the cash flow problems.
Mr. Tomuriesa noted that Prime Minister and his government has no issues sourcing funds for these trip, yet the public servants and departments have had to wait in angst for funding to reach their accounts.
“Mr. Marape has been on flight mode recently, flying to New York for the UN General Assembly, flying to Sydney for the NRL grand finale, flying to Indonesia for the Presidential inauguration and another upcoming trip to Samoa for another engagement.”
“It seems the government is prioritizing these international trips while they let our departments suffer and starve until the very last minute to scramble for funding and issue warrants,” the opposition leader said.
“Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso led a sizable delegation to the United States earlier this month and now we see news of Administrative Services Minister Richard Masere leading a delegation to Australia to ‘observe’ the Australian state elections.” Mr. Tomuriesa said:
“The Opposition is genuinely concerned and interested to know what our financial situation is, since no one from the Prime Minister’s office, Treasury, or Finance has come out to explain why we have money for government activities, but nothing for everyday operations of our public service.”
Mr. Tomuriesa also criticized the trip Minister Masere is taking to Australia, calling it “unnecessary and another junket”.
“It is quite disgraceful that Mr. Masere is using taxpayer funds to go on an unnecessary trip to witness Australian elections when we are in a cash flow crisis.
