LAST year, we were told that most of the parliamentary committees scarcely met; some had not convened at all.
Now we learn that late last year the committee chairmen agreed at a meeting that a quarter of a million kina should be allocated annually to each committee so that it could “perform its functions”.
The November meeting was attended by exactly half of the permanent, referral and standing committee chairmen.
There is no reason to suppose that the missing 18 chairmen would have opposed the remarkable recommendations arrived at by their colleagues.
It should be relevant to add that these were only recommendations.
They must be approved by the Salaries and Renumeration Committee, which is not yet in place, according to the Speaker of the House.
It should be relevant to make that point, but on the basis of past experience we would wager that most, if not all of the increases, totalling between K20 and K30 million, will be passed by the SRC and subsequently by the Parliament in all probability without a murmur of dissent.
In passing, we question why the SRC is yet to be “put in place”, considering that several months have passed since the formation of the present Government following last year’s elections.
A wide variety of additional payments, perks and privileges has been proposed.
The committee sitting allowance of K50 a day has been deemed insufficient; it has been unanimously agreed that the amount be raised to equal that of Australian federal Members of Parliament.
The fact that Australia has a population of some 24 million people compared with PNG’s six million does not appear to disturb the committee chairmen.
Then the November meeting decided that 36 vehicles should be given to the committees as a “one-off” allocation during this Parliament.
If that is approved, as we expect, we shall be watching the use and maintenance of those vehicles most carefully and informing the public of our observations.
All of these new benefits will have to be funded outside of the Parliamentary Service 2008 budget, presumably by lodging the expenditure as an extraordinary item in the expected 2008 March supplementary budget.
How can these increases be justified in the light of the almost entirely negative performance of the committees to date?
A Government source is quoted as saying that the K20 million to K30 million extra expenditure represents “a huge amount of money – but it’s fair enough if it results in these committees functioning efficiently”.
We beg to differ.
Far from being “fair enough”, it is a massive insult to the public that continues to struggle to make ends meet.
It’s a stab in the back for the legion of poorly-paid overseas and domestic volunteers, who slave year in and year out to try and help rebuild clinics, schools and other vital infrastructure neglected by successive governments since independence.
It’s a slap in the faces of the legion of nurses that try valiantly to maintain some kind of medical standards in a host of run-down hospitals throughout the land.
It’s a show of outright contempt to underpaid teachers stationed in remote areas who wait weeks, even months for their salaries, let alone leave and other entitlements.
If the performance of parliamentary committees depend on the amount of money and the number and quality of privileges afforded to their members, then abolish the committees altogether.
It is, after all, apparent that most of them fulfil little if any purpose.
This Government came to power on a tide of promises.
This was to be the Government that would build upon the economic improvements achieved by its predecessor and help create a new era for PNG.
Instead, we are offered a greedy agenda by 18 chairmen who have been elected by the people to achieve the goals outlined by the present Government during campaigning.
We urge the Members of the House to put aside such financial grandstanding and address their roles in the name of the voters, who have given them the extensive privileges and perks they already command.
Failure to do so could send PNG on that familiar downward slide we have experienced all too often.