Concern raised on vacancies on boards

The Farmers and Settlers’ Association has expressed concern over Government’s lack of commitment to appoint or fill in vacancies on the boards of various agriculture and livestock commodity boards.
President Wilson Thompson said in a statement that these included chief executive officers and also the appointment of a permanent department secretary.
He said Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Benny Allan had announced earlier that department and commodity board appointments would be sorted out in first quarter of 2018, but was now saying these would be done in first quarter of 2019.
“The whole agriculture sector was affected when the former minister (Tommy Tomscoll) kept waiting for a functional expenditure review and his proposed agriculture adjustment act, which were still in policy formulation stages,” Thompson said.
“The Regulatory Statutory Authority (appointments to certain offices) Act and the various commodity board legislations required appointments of board members and chief executive officers as and when they fall vacant.
“The Government has done the right thing by putting focus on agriculture and on small-to-medium enterprise (SME) development in the Alotau Accord 2, but it needs to get the systems and processes in place to implement the Government objectives.
“The agriculture sector commodity boards and agencies are confused as to where the policy direction is and which functions
are under the ministry and the sector.
“The minister and secretary for agriculture and livestock have not provided the leadership and guidance on the functions and responsibilities of the department and various agencies.
“These include defining what SMEs are in the agriculture sector and how they will be assisted.
“The National Development Bank and the National Plantation Management Agency were supposed to guide and expand the agriculture and agriculture processing industries, but their responsibilities have been taken away and given to the minister for State enterprises.”
Thompson said Minister for Public Service Elias Kapavore needed to review terms of board members and CEOs of all the commodity boards.