Mollok slams provincial budget

 THE 2011 Madang budget has been described as a “conservative non-reformist budget”.

This was said by Almami local level government president Bernard Mollok after it was passed on Monday.

The swift passing was celebrated over lunch hosted by the governor which some of  the presidents attended .

Mollok, who did not attend, said the budget was a crisis management budget which had nothing to improve the LLG and districts. 

“Successive provincial governments have ignored LLGs. Historically, this level of government is at the forefront of development. Today, they are just flesh with no bones and teeth. We are being starved of funding and manpower,” he said.

He said that all presidents did not have support staff and, as such, did not have the capacity to raise internal revenue such as head tax. 

Mollok claimed that the K200,000 to K300,000 grant given them this year was the same as last year and could not cater for all projects.