by Scott Waide – EM TV, Lae
More than 200 provincial treasury staff are in Lae for the next two days to discuss challenges, opportunities and government policies affecting the districts.
One of the main focus of the meeting is to find ways to bring all stakeholders to work together.
District treasuries form the backbone in the government’s financial mechanism.
The gathering in Lae has brought together the provincial treasurers from all over the country.
The treasurers have become an important part of the government’s service delivery mechanism in the last 20 years and more so in the last five with unprecedented levels of government funding going to districts.
This morning, the finance minister, told the conference, the system can only work if the dots made up of stakeholders and provincial treasuries were connected.
The Finance department has long been the target of criticism over allegations of misappropriation and corruption – it still is. The department has appeared before the Public accounts committee and investigations have been ordered into the workings of it.
Meetings like this are crucial to identify where the flaws are and fix them. As part of ongoing improvement efforts, the minimum qualification to work in district treasuries will be a first degree in accounting or a related field.
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