Claims of rift in Madang council

 The Madang provincial government and its open MPs are not working together, former treasurer Andrew Namuesh claims.
He said provincial administrator Ben Lange was not working well with the governor as it showed through their work.
He claimed there was a friction and the open MPs were never present in the province.
This was evident when Governor Jim Kas, in his speech at the handover ceremony, said he no longer thought of the open members to be members of his provincial executive council (PEC).
“Open members are not attending PEC meetings and as the chairman, I will decide what goes on in the chambers. I have now chucked the members out. Don’t consider them part of the PEC anymore, I deal directly with my council presidents,” Kas had said.
A total of K1.9 million has been diverted from infrastructure to purchase 19 new vehicles for the presidents.
Namuesh said despite this being queried by him, the request had to be executed due to pressure during the few remaining days he had in office until recently.
“There is no co-operation among its leaders. The governor is operating on his own, as is the provincial administrator and the open members,” he said.