East Sepik residents lose faith in Govt

THE people of East Sepik have lost confidence in the way the Government has gone about its business, provincial administrator Samson Torovi said.
Mr Torovi said this was because its public administration had failed.
He was speaking at the launch of the East Sepik provincial administrative corporate plan 2010-14 and also the setting up of the East Sepik provincial coordination monitoring committee (PCMC) and its office.
There was a low turnout of senior public servants at the launch.
Official guests Sir Michael Somare, Inter-Government Relations Minister Job Pomat and Chief Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc failed to attend.
Correctional Services Minister Tony Aimo, Health secretary Dr Clement Malau and secretary for Justice and Attorney-General Dr Lawrence Kalinoe were among those present.
Mr Torovi told them that it was no secret East Sepik province had faltered in the past 20 years and that the standard of service delivery had declined drastically.
“All these without successive provincial governments, and its provincial administrations, working to arrest the decline,” he said.
“Hence, many of our people have lost confidence in the way the Government has gone about its business.
“Successive studies have revealed that our social indicators are worse off today than they were at the time of Independence. Accessibility to information and basic needs are practically non-existent today in remote districts.
“There is total breakdown in the system and processes of doing core administrative business of services delivery to our people, as a result, the cost of service delivery has become expensive and impracticable,” he said.
However, Mr Torovi said  “the tide of destiny is about to change”.
“We have witnessed during the past few years the turnaround in our country’s economy and its unprecedented growth as a result of prudent fiscal policies and financial management of the country, resulting in further promise for more rural transformation.
“We take this opportunity to salute the current National Alliance-led Government for this success.
“We do trust that PNG is preparing in its Vision 2050 to plan and adopt strategies aimed at preserving wealth and distributing it in a way beneficial to every Papua New Guinean to realise his or her potential.”
Mr Torovi said the East Sepik people were certain that the Government would avoid the mistakes of the 1980s and not squander the wealth of Bougainville and Ok Tedi but use the LNG resources wisely to benefit the whole country.
He said the people of East Sepik must reorganise and position themselves to capture “benefits of our collective wealth”.
Mr Torovi said this meant a total revamp of the service delivery mechanism and adopting a corporate culture into the Sepik systems and processes.
“Simply put, the provincial administration as a service delivery mechanism must be oiled, serviced, maintained and geared to service its Government.
“It is the Government’s drive on its DSIP, aimed at rural PNG transformation, then our provincial administration must be resourced, adequately skilled and organised to fully implement the programme.
“This is all about capacity building,” he said.