MP condemns Enga asset transfer

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
MEMBER for Wapenamanda Miki Kaeok has condemned the last-minute move by Enga Governor Peter Ipatas to transfer provincial government assets into the Enga Children’s Trust Fund.
Kaeok said last Friday from Wapenamanda that the timing was not right as the province was preparing to go to the polls.
He claimed there was no scrutiny in the trust fund and that the money generated from public property transferred into the fund “is subject to misuse”.
Kaeok said this after the provincial government transferred the ownership title of the BSP building in Wabag into the Enga children trust fund.
He said the transfer was not in the interest of the 300,000 people in the province.
He said the building was owned by the people of Enga and not Ipatas or his provincial executive council members.
He said the five parliamentarians and the people of the province were not consulted before the transfer of ownership.
Kaeok said the people of Enga had only days left before polling began in the province.
He said the transfer was a desperate move and not in the best interest of the people.
He said the Enga Children’s Trust Fund and Ipatas Foundation were becoming like a private entities.
Kaeok said Ipatas and his PEC members should wait and win their seats back before making such a transfer.
He also claimed the provincial government had transferred its 5% share in the Porgera gold mine held by Mineral Resource Development Company into Enga Children’s Trust Fund without the consent of the people.
He said those shares were owned by the people and they had to be told and have a say on how best their funds should be managed and used.
Kaeok said a formal complaint would be lodged to the Ombudsman Commission to investigate and stop the transfer of the public assets.
He called on Ipatas to tell the people how much of his own money he had put it into the Ipatas foundation.