Bilong stays as administrator

 Geoving Bilong will remain in charge of the Morobe provincial administration until a new appointment is gazetted, Governor Kelly Naru said yesterday.

He said the delay in the appointment of a new administrator was because the old process of appointments had been replaced by a new one.

Naru said that when clearing the air  on the appointment of a permanent head of the Morobe public servants.

There is widespread criticism in the province that the public services machinery is not functioning effectively because of the absence of a permanent administrator while Bilong continued to play that role despite having gone past his initial nine months acting appointment late last year. 

Naru said the provincial government had short-listed qualified applicants and they were halfway through the appointment process.

He said that forced them to start again under the new selection process, which now saw the advertising of positions and screening of applicants done through the Department of Personnwl Management and then by the provincial executive council. 

The NEC makes the appointment.