NIP budget endorsed ‘without approval’

KAVIENG open MP Ian Ling-Stuckey and Prime Minister James Marape endorsed “13 in one” New Ireland budget without approval from the provincial assembly, an official claims.
New Ireland deputy governor Sammy Missen claimed Ling-Stuckey had bypassed the district development authority when he went straight to Marape.
Missen refuted a recent media statement from the PM’s Office, saying that Ling-Stuckey’s alleged actions resulted in misconstrued information about New Ireland being released to the public.
“The media release incorrectly states that provincial assembly reps were present to witness the handing over of the so-called ‘13 in one’ budget,” he said.
Missen said there were only representatives from the Kavieng District Development Authority.
“The budgets from the districts and 10 LLGs were never presented to the provincial executive council before the Nov 30 last year as stipulated in the DDA Act, which means their budgets were never passed on the floor of the assembly during the handing down of the provincial budget on Dec 20, 2023,” he said.
“We have not collectively discussed the budget estimates presented by the two districts, they just illegally combined their budget with the provincial budget and presented it to the prime minister.”
Missen said this breached the Provincial and Local Level Government Act as well as the DDA Act.