Olkoben welcomed

By JAMES APA GUMUNO
THE Southern Highlands provincial executive council has welcomed new acting administrator Lawrence Olkoben at the Agiru Centre.
Mendi Open MP Isaac Joseph, deputy governor Kenger Olpa and all the provincial executive council members, except Governor Anderson Agiru, met Olkoben and told him they expected him to carry on from where his predecessor William Powi had left off.
Olkoben, who was part of the provincial management team as a provincial treasurer that rebuilt and set the new course for the province during the state of emergency in 2002, told the senior public servants he was not new to the system and would settle in quickly.
He told the divisional heads they had provincial corporate plans in place but did not have the money to implement those plans.
He said his task now was to talk with the provincial government to seek more funding and resources to enable them to implement the plans successfully.
Olkoben said he would need their support to make sure goods and services were delivered to the people.
He told executive council members and divisional heads he would take on board development plans that each local level government had come up with and incorporate them into existing provincial plans and implement them.
He asked divisional heads to allocate a small space in their offices for the PEC members, especially the chairmen of respective divisions.
Olkoben said he would work with public servants from the provincial down to district levels and councillors.
Joseph told the senior public servants that Olkoben was appointed by the National Executive Council because he had proven himself as a capable manager when he was a provincial treasurer.
He said the NEC and the PEC had trust and confidence in Olkoben.