Acquittals first before grants released, provinces told

The Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) is urging all provincial,  district administrators and local level governments to submit acquittal reports for the first quarter of 2016.
The department’s programme implementation wing deputy secretary Jackson Why yesterday received the services improvement programme funds acquittal reports for Rai Coast district in Madang.
He said funds for provinces and districts would not be released until reports were furnished.
Why said more than K17 million of district and provincial support grant funds which accumulated from 2013-2014 were parked at the department because acquittals had not been presented.
He said the provincial and district support grants totalling around K500,000 apiece were compulsory to all members of Parliament.
They consisted of the discretionary and the non-discretionary components.
Why said in the 2013 fiscal year, around K55.5 million was appropriated of which only K27.75 million was allocated.
Only K19.75m of this was paid out to the MPs, and a balance of K8 million went stale.
The 2014 fiscal year saw an initial appropriation of K55.5 million per district and province of which only K27.75 was allocated.
K18 million was paid out to the MPs and the remaining K9.75 million  went stale because of non-acquittals.