All MPs will get funds, says O’Neill

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill yesterday rejected claims that the government was withholding funds earmarked for opposition members’ electorates.
And he assured parliamentarians on both sides of the house that “they will all get their cheques”.
“Just last week I called on the opposition to shape up. In that same statement I said no electorate represented by any member of parliament in the opposition would be left out of the government’s development plans,” O’Neill said.
“The opposition today demonstrated they are not worthy of being the alternate government by mischievously suggesting that I would deny people in parts of PNG access to these development funds.
“Implementing the 2013 budget is a massive exercise and we have started doing this by releasing a portion of these funds to all provinces and districts.
“This exercise began last week. Some MPs have received their cheques. Others will receive theirs this week and next. Cash flow at the finance department dictates how much we pay out now, and this is being managed very well by the department.
“Some members of government also have not received theirs yet. No one is being discriminated here.
“There are some MPs who may have issues with not acquittal of previous district services improvement programme funds allocated to them. They have to resolve this.”
 with the office of rural development and finance department before new funds are released.
“We must remember these are public funds, not support-buying handouts, and strict guidelines need to be adhered to,” the prime minister said.