Kilanda confirmed as NCC director

By HELEN TARAWA
STEVEN Kilanda has been confirmed as the National Cultural Commission (NCC) executive director for the next four years.
Kilanda signed his employment contract at Government House yesterday.
The position has been vacant for nine years.
He said the commission’s annual budget was between K4 million and K5 million taken up mostly by personal emoluments.
He hopes that the Government allocates more money to develop PNG culture which is “the biggest stand-alone tourism product in the country”.
“The NCC is the custodian of that product,” Kilanda said.
“If we want more tourists to come into the country, we should develop our culture.”
He said the commission was established in 1994, with Dr Jacob Simet holding the executive director post for almost 20 years.
Kilanda was a deputy director of the National Museum and Art Gallery.
“One of my aims was to (become) director to give confidence to the organisation,” he said.
“We developed the five-year development plan 2019 to 2023, the website and we’ve cleaned up the payroll system and strengthened the financial management system.”
Kilanda said the audit report had been outstanding from 2015 to last year.
The staff ceiling is 74 and last week 22 retired.