Civil servants warned

By NATHAN WOTI
STATE Enterprises Minister William Duma says the Government is there to allocate funds but it is up to departmental heads and public servants to carry out work to ensure that targets are met and public funds are spent responsibly.
He said that most times political leaders were blamed for underperforming duties that were outside their mandated task.
“As political leaders, we get blamed for not performing our duties as a result of our departments or ministry not performing,” Duma told The National.
“Political leadership is there to provide funding and ensuring that right policies are being implemented to drive our economy.
“We are not on the ground all the time and it is the duty of those in the industry or sector to perform, report and ensure that pubic funds allocated are being put into development.”
Duma said that political leadership changed every five years, but those who were in the departments and sector did not change, so they should learn to withstand political pressure and work with the mindset to deliver for the good of the country.
“While I acknowledge the Government and Prime Minister James Marape for the four ministerial portfolios of United Resource Party (URP) MPs, I also like to state that we all must perform our task as ministers and as staff in those ministries.”
Duma said that the URP, of which he is leader, had delivered important projects for the country in recent times and it was a challenge for the party to take on board new ministerial portfolios such as Coffee and Correctional Services with no proper structures set in place.
“The two main project we delivered for the country was Ramu Nickle, the country’s first ever nickel project and the K19 billion PNG LNG.
“So I’d like to challenge my two MPs William Bando, Minister for Coffee, and Joe Kuli, Minister for Correctional Services, to use whatever limited funding and collaborate with your staff and stakeholders to deliver for our people,” he said.
Duma and deputy party leader Jelta Wong were both present at the handover of the Coffee Ministry yesterday.