Government must justify expenditure

Letters

I REFER to recent media reports regarding our foreign missions overspending their budgets by millions of kina.
One of them, the PNG High Commission in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia, has recklessly spent up to K2.5m.
This could only be the tip of the iceberg and there’s more to come to light.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Bill Dihm was quick to defend the high commission, saying that since it was the transit point  in the region, the spending was justified  in the light of the 2018 Apec Summit.
I will stress again that the country is paying the high price of celebrity events initiated by the current government.
The 2015 Pacific Games and last year’s ACP Leaders’ Summit have chewed up millions of kina.
The Under-20 women’s soccer World Cup tournament late last year also cost a lot of money for the government.
And the 2018 Apec Leaders’ Summit is expected to cost millions of kina.
The Paga Hill Development and Tourism City property developments are funded by the government as host venues for the Apec summit.
The government needs to explain what long-term benefits will be derived for this massive expenditure.

Yapi Akore
SHP