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| Parkop wrong not to use councillors | |
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I REFER to the report “No elections
for NCD councillors: Parkop” (April 14). I disagree with the governor that the past councillors have done nothing during their tenure. The governor must be made aware that these councillors were very effective during the time of late Sir William Skate as the NCD governor. There was a board of commissioners which acted as the provincial assembly that provided governance to the stakeholders and wider community in the city. The late Sir William was a people’s leader who knew the grassroots’ needs. Therefore, he was able to act quickly to make decisions to accommodate the people’s needs. He chose his councillors wisely and established a community government system which was dismantled by the previous governor and now Governor Parkop also chose not to use it. The councillors were Sir William’s ears and eyes in the community and reported back to him. As a result, Sir William was well informed of the needs of the people. I believe the current governor is out of touch with his constituents. People are lining up everyday to see him at his office because he does not have an effective local and community government system in place. Law and order situation is rampant in the settlements because of lack of community governance. There are no councillors to settle disputes and this placed a huge constraint on the Police Force. Given the fact that there is a lack of community governance in the current NCDC Act, I am appealing to all MPs to give serious consideration to amend the current NCDC Act. Amendments are necessary to introduce local and community governance structure that are compatible with the rest of the provinces under the Organic Law on Provincial and Local Level Governments. Once the amendments are introduced, the people of NCD can go to the polls like other provinces. At the moment, the residents of NCD are at the mercy of one man under the current NCDC Act. We have no voice since City Hall is being run like another business arm of government to collect taxes and provide services for the big business houses. Infrastructure like roads are not maintained. Governor, have you seen the state of road from 6 Mile to Jackson Airport? Pro-alternate governance for NCD Port Moresby |
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