Laws not implemented effectively, says Kwa

SECRETARY for Constitutional and Law Reform Commission (CLRC) Dr Eric Kwa says many laws in PNG were not being implemented effectively after their enactment in Parliament because proper costings were not being done to implement each provision during the drafting stages.
Dr Kwa said this during a workshop which looked at costs that would possibly involve reviewing the PNG Civil Registration Act 1962 at Gaire in Central yesterday.
He told The National that from his experience being in the post of the CLRC secretary for the past seven years, one of the issues that led to lack of effective implementation of a piece of law was that money that was needed to implement that piece of law.
“In my own personal view, it would be good for us to do this kind of work going into the future because it is good for our country,” he aid.
“We don’t want that practice of Government passing law in Parliament and then telling us to factor the costs on how much it would cost to implement next year and onwards.
“This kind of training will help us to already cost it, so the government will know already the cost before they pass it.
“They will be able to know that this law will cost that kind of funding to implement starting next year and going forward and in that way, information becomes critical and vital for implementing government policy.”
Kwa said reviewing the PNG Civil Registration Act 1962 was to reflect the current changes happening in the country.
“I’ve been in the law review business for the last seven years and I have seen that we do this law but when we pass it, unfortunately some laws we pass are implemented, some laws that are passed in Parliament are still sitting there yet to be implemented.
“So for me, the gap there is the financial implications.
“For instance, if we had to strengthen the work of PNGCIR, how much will we need? The law is going to be set up so it means it needs the structure.”