Cepa board list before commission

A SHORTLIST on the appointment of board members for the Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (Cepa) is now with the Public Service Commission (PSC), managing director Gunther Joku says.
Joku said in order to transition Cepa from the then Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC), an interim board was put in place as provided for under the Cepa Act 2014.
“Because the law was passed and we need to transition the then DEC to Cepa, a board needs to be in place to make decision and drive these transition so an interim board was put in place,” he said.
He said the interim board comprised Finance secretary, Treasury secretary, National Planning and Monitoring secretary, Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs secretary and himself as the managing director.
“These are ex-officio board members based on their position as required for under the Cepa Act, but we need to have three independent board members from the business community who will have to be nominated by the PNG Business Council,” he said.
“We have been working with the PNG Business Council and the Department of Personnel Management to recruit these board members.
“Their have been already submitted to the Public Service Commission and they are conducting their own independent evaluation and assessments.”
Joku said, once that was done, it would be submitted to Cabinet by the Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change.
“The three board members will have to be from different fields in law, human resource, natural resource management and business.”
Minister for Environment, Conservation and Climate Change Geoffrey Kama said his immediate priority was to ensure Cepa board was in place to provide the strategic leadership to drive the authority forward.