Submit your returns, Gelu tells parties

National

By Moya Iowa
Registrar of Political Parties Dr Alphonse Gelu has urged all parties and their winning candidates to submit their financial returns to his office before Oct 31.
Gelu made the request when receiving the financial returns for the People’s Labour Party (PLP) and party president Madang Governor Peter Yama yesterday in Port Moresby.
Gelu said that of 45 registered political parties, only six, including PLP, had submitted their reports and only 10 of the 109 winning candidates submitted theirs.
Gelu said that it was important for parties and winning candidates to submit their financial returns within three months after the date they were declared as this was a requirement under Sections 88 and 89 of the Organic Law on the Integrity of Political Parties and Candidates (OLIPPAC).
Sections 88 and 89 of the OLIPPAC seek to make political parties and elected members of Parliament accountable in terms of how they had financed their election campaigns.
Gelu siad that non-compliance would result in fines imposed on the parties and referral to the Ombudsman Commission. The maximum penalty for non-compliance by MPs is dismissal from Parliament.
Upon receiving the reports from PLP, Gelu said he was very pleased with the party and its executives for being proactive and also for strengthening their political party by attending important workshops
that his office has held from 2013 to 2017.
PLP general secretary Charles Loke thanked Gelu and the registry for organising the workshops to strengthen political parties in PNG.
Loke said that PLP had benefitted a lot from the workshops that were centered on learning and development.
He added that much of PLP’s success was due to taking heed of what was taught in the workshops.