Hela govt urged to elect workers

 THE Hela provincial government should appoint public servants in the province, a community leader and candidate for the Tari town mayor’s seat says.

James Palana, from Kupari village, Tari-Pori district, said public servants had an enormous task and played an important role to bring services to the people.

“Hela was recognised as a province of its own in this year’s election and the province needs public servants to effectively implement service delivery to the vast rural population,” he said.

He said the Government delivered important services such as education, health, electricity, roads and bridges and housing and public servants are the implementing arm of the Government.

“Why is this happening? Can the four MPs of Hela work together to appoint the important service implementers?” he asked.

“When you (MPs) come to Hela, you speak one language which is the Hela Huli language, and share a common interest to serve the people.”

He said the province was experiencing a huge influx of people and the little town was overcrowded with people and vehicles.

“The new province needed public servants to change and such an important agent of change cannot be left out for too long,” he said.

Finance Minister James Marape expressed dissatisfaction over the delay in appointing public servants in the province last week.

Marape said for the past five years, he had worked without public servants and that must not continue.