Focusing on ward governance

KOKOPO, East New Britain, is committed to promoting ward governance where the people and issues are.
This is in line with the district’s five-year development plan where more emphasis will be given to direct consultation with all wards and communities.
District administrator John Talele said one of its main focus was in strengthening the alignment between district, local level governments (LLG) and the ward level where “real people and real issues exist”.
Talele said the restructure of the provincial administration would now see 60 per cent of all public servants deployed to the district and LLG level.
He said through this decentralisation process, LLG positions were now filled and should be functioning as per the Organic Law on Provincial and LLG Governments.
“During the review of the district’s five-year development plan, more emphasis were given to direct consultation with all our wards and communities.”
Talele said through these interactions they were able to identify real problems and capture the needs of the people.
“The district plan and the LLGs’ development plans are now in draft and are expected to launch soon,” he said.
Talele said district’s public servants performance had been under scrutiny and the administration had taken note of the public’s concerns and aimed to improve its services and responsibilities towards the people and the communities.