Kwa tells: Why PM is paying for repairs

By GIDEON KINDIWA
PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill, pictured, has volunteered to meet the cost of repairs to properties damaged at Parliament House during an incident last November because the 2019 budget had already been passed by then.
Secretary to the Department of Justice and Attorney-General Dr Eric Kwa said the budget was passed a week before the group of police and prison officers stormed Parliament in a protest over the delay in the payment of their allowance.
“The Government is still looking for ways to come up with the K15 million because the money cannot be taken out from funds that have been allocated already,” Kwa said.
He was responding to questions raised during the launching of the 2018 Corruption Perception Index hosted by Transparency International Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby on why Parliament could not meet the costs, and how the PM could foot such a high bill personally.
Kwa said Parliament could not pull funds out of the budget.
“We are looking for ways to get money outside the budget,” Kwa said.
O’Neill had told The National this week that he would foot the bill because he was “fed up with the broken doors and glasses not being fixed. I am not going to wait”.
Transparency International chairman Lawrence Stephens said the Government must maintain its properties and not relegate its responsibilities to individuals.