NCD councillors urged to be creative

National, Normal
Source:

The National – Tuesday, February 1, 2011

NCD Governor Powes Parkop has challenged 36 ward councillors in NCD to be creative where they were with the money or any other resources given to achieve their goals.
He was speaking during the closing of a week-long training workshop on gender equality and good governance in local level government at the Hideaway Hotel in Port Moresby last Friday.
The workshop was hosted by the National Council of Women with support from United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF).
Parkop said: “How do you spend the money that is given to achieve your goals?
“You must try to be creative where you are, in using the resources you have.
“I do not limit myself to the budget I have. I come up with a development plan and look for funding from other organisations.
“Use your creativity, there is no limitation to what you can do.”
He said the World Bank, for example, was one organisation which could be approached to finance some of his development plans for NCD.
The governor was speaking in relation to the direction NCDC was taking where everything had to be budgeted for including ward development plans which was the responsibility of the respective LLG presidents.
Parkop expected this to be implemented this year and urged the LLG presidents to have their plans submitted to his office to be incorporated in the NCDC budget in April.
He discouraged the trend of generally giving away cash, instead of giving according to a plan (budget).
Meanwhile, the presidents asked which law should apply to them – the Organic Law on Provincial and LLG  (OLP&LLG) or the NCDC Act as the NCDC Act is silent on the role of the councillors.
Parkop said under OLP&LLG, the LLG council presidents were guaranteed membership in the provincial assembly and could be appointed to seat on the various committees.
However, this  did not apply to NCD and the governor uses his powers under the NCDC Act to appoint the councillors.