K3mil for Morobe locals ‘misapplied’

By JIMMY KALEBE
AN investigation is underway by police fraud squad into the alleged misapplication of almost K3 million allocated by Morobe government to cater for pastors, evangelists, widows, single mothers and people with disabilities.
Morobe Governor Luther Wenge said the provincial executive council had passed a resolution and replaced the former chairman of the board Pastor Gedisa Okimaisa.
“The PEC, in its resolution, appointed senior Pastor Eremas Bakun as the chairman of the board that is in charge of the money belonging to these groups of people and this change of chairmanship of the board came about because of gross application of the money,” said Wenge.
He said in the provincial budget last year, K5 million was allocated to cater for the pastors, evangelists, widows and single mothers and people living with disabilities and out of that, he alleged that almost K3 million was misappropriated so far.
“I have been asking for the accounts of the money being used to be given to me but these were never given to me until I found out that the money was alleged to have been misappropriated,” he said.
Wenge said that is why he asked the police to investigate the alleged misappropriation of the money and those people found to be responsible would be held accountable to their actions.
“From the way I see it, the K5 million that was appropriated for by the provincial government in last year’s budget to cater for this purpose had almost more than a half of it not used as intended,” he said.
He said this is a very unfortunate situation and that is why pastors and others were not catered for under that funding.
With the PEC appointed new chairman of the board as well as the committee members, expectations are that the money will be used well for its purpose going forward.
Wenge said that there will be a new allocation made and it is expected that the new chairman and board members will use the funds wisely for their purposes.