MP: No unnecessary spending

By PETER WARI
MONEY allocated for service delivery will not be spent unnecessarily by giving it to people, says a State minister.
Works Minister Michael Nali said this during the launch of a K9 million road and K1.5 million rural electrification project in his Mendi-Munihu electorate.
He told the people at Karel village in the Upper Mendi local level government (LLG) that he feared no one and they must not come asking him for money.
“I am not afraid of whether you will vote for me or not in the coming national elections,” he said.
“If I fear voters of whether they will vote for me or not and start giving money to them, there will be no development taking place in the district.
“This is not the way a leader should treat his people, if you see me not performing my duty to your expectations, do not vote for me.”
Nali said he first became the Mendi MP in 1992 and served three terms before losing his seat in the 2007 elections.
He then focused on business activities before reclaiming the seat in the last elections (2017).
He said the district had good land available for agricultural activities and they needed to farm it and get involved in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as the national government was focused in supporting SMEs.
“As a senior politician, I will not be providing free handouts so that those that receive something will be beating their chests while others suffer,” he said.
“All people in the district are my people and I will be fair in proving the services they need.”
Upper-Mendi LLG president Kevin Sapul said services and development was the most important need of the people and as long as leaders provided that.
He said the road and rural electrification projects were two impact projects for the district and people needed to take ownership by helping contractors engaged for the projects.