A STOP-payment advice of more than K68,000 for Kikori has been lifted at the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) by the Office of Rural Development (ORD).
ORD put a stop payment to the money about a year ago when it became suspicious about the manner in which the district administration intended to use the money.
The stop-payment was lifted for the Member for Kikori and Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations Mark Maipakai on the use of the K68,051 for the maintenance and upgrading of the remote Ihu health centre.
The payment on cheque number 8431 was halted on Dec 13, 2006, until this month when both parties agreed and decided that payment should be cleared for the maintenance work for the health centre to begin.
The ORD said in a statement that health services provided by the Ihu health centre had been affected by the stop-payment for almost a year as a result of the actions of public servants who were supposed to carry out their duties transparently.
“Their actions have contributed to a lot of suffering and even death in a remote area where people depended on the health centre,” ORD said in the statement.
“It is very costly ferrying patients to the Kerema hospital and often dinghy operators travel perilous sea journeys to transport patients for medical help to Kerema town,” it said.
The statement said that the intended abuse of funds by the Kikori district administration was an example of what went on behind the scenes in many districts of PNG and often ORD bore the blame from the public as a result of other people’s making.
The Department of Works in Kerema had submitted the scope of work for the repair, maintenance and upgrading of the health centre to the ORD which was determined to repair the facilities early next year upon the release of the funds.