ENB governor tells civil servants to use govt data

EAST New Britain Governor Michael Marum has urged his public servants to “attend to government departments and get vital information needed to do our work”.
The governor was speaking in support of a series of nationwide consultations being conducted by the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (Dird) on the recently-introduced bilum digital platform.
Officers from the department were in Kokopo last week conducting training and consultative sessions for public servants in the province on digitalised reporting systems.
“Presenting data in a digital form is the way forward for East New Britain and Papua New Guinea,” Marum said.
“I commend the government department responsible.
“I thank our two governments (PNG and Australia) for funding the bilum digital concept.”
He said the concept would greatly assist districts and provinces resolve on reporting and the acquittal of public monies issues.
Dird officers on tour explained that the Bilum Digital Platform concept was part of the government’s reform in digitalising reporting systems in the country.
“It focuses on real-time and evidence-based reporting,” one said, adding that trials carried out in Wabag, Enga and West Sepik’s Nuku had proved successful, hence, the consultations before rolling it out to other districts throughout the country.
Meanwhile, Marum said: “We recently launched our information and communication technology (ICT) action plan for the province.
“The Bilum platform, as I understand, will improve data collection and efficiency in reporting between a province and all its districts and with all National Government departments.”
Marum urged all players of the concept to revisit the government’s DSIP policy and allow for changes within the confines of the digital platform to ensure total compliance in reporting and in the acquittal of public funds.
“Provinces need to improve on the way they are managed; provinces need to improve on the way they provide services to our rural communities.”
Dird deputy secretary Gordon Wafimbi said unlike the Integrated Financial Management System, “this platform has online and offline data entry solutions, has a template-based reporting to ensure consistency, tracks the usage and reporting status of DSIP funds, and has online training resources and support”.