Maru pushes the envelop on accountability

WITH the new government less than a week into office, ministers in the O’Neill-Abel cabinet are getting down to the business of running the country.
It is a heavy responsibility but already several ministers have started laying out their plans for their portfolios.
National Planning and Monitoring Minister Richard Maru started his tenure by having a sit-down with his department staff to tell them what he wants. He stressed the need for public servants not to fall into bad habits and to be productive.
It was really housekeeping but Maru, as we know, is a stickler for standards and expects a certain degree of professionalism from his staff and the public servants who are connected to his ministry and department.
Maru also questioned the allocation of “millions of kina” by his department for ghost projects over the years.
This is an indication that he plans to keep a tight rein on the department’s use of state funds and perhaps look into reviewing the use of past allocations.
That makes sense because the decisions of the past and the commitments made by his predecessor and those charged with running the department will in one way or another affect its ability to be an effective implementer of the government’s strategy and plans.
“I know the National Planning department in the past has been funding so many projects,” Maru said.
“In my district (Yangoru-Saussia, East Sepik), K2.5 million was given for a cocoa project.
“Most of it was never used for the project.
“How did we do that? Who authorised this?
“I will be checking such projects. We need to clean up and build the integrity of this department and ministry so people and donors trust us.”
He told his staff, headed by department secretary Hakaua Harry, that they had an important role to play in nation building.
The department has 180 staff, a project management unit plus the National Statistical Office, National Civil and Identity Registry and the Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council. Maru’s department may just be an information-gathering body but that data is vital to planning and helps formulate provincial and state budgets and helps the government decide where to use its resources and how best to do so.
The use of statistics and related data goes a long way in finding solutions to issues like unemployment, job creation, education, healthcare, population growth, urban migration and a long list of other areas.
Secretary Harry stated her department’s role which showed clearly that theirs was not just to compile data but to follow through on the monitoring, compliance and reporting of resources the state allocated.
“We plan, coordinate and we lead the facilitation of appropriate national and international development initiatives that address and promote equity and sustainable development across the country,” Harry said.
The fight against corruption, mismanagement and the negative impacts it has on the public service machinery invariably starts at the top.
With Minister Maru’s due diligence, the tone should be set for the National Planning and Monitoring department to do its part.
Maru’s department has a big responsibility outside of the District Services Improvement Programme and the Provincial Services Improvement Programme to align donor funds to national priorities.
He said his priority was to ensure aid and state funds were not spent haphazardly or in areas that were impractical and did little for the overall development of the country.
He singled out the nation’s capital as one place that had been the recipient of a disproportionate amount of funding and indicated steps would be taken to correct the imbalance.
“I am aware of some projects like road programmes. Only one region in the last five years has been receiving funding for district roads at the expense of the others. This will stop. Port Moresby is not Papua New Guinea.
“We must be fair to all.”