Philemon has a good track record

I REFER to the letter “Clean your own yard first, Bart” (The National, Sept 3).
I commend the writer for using his/her constitutional rights in demanding for accountability from our mandated Lae MP and Deputy Opposition leader Bart Philemon.
I think the same applies to all other nine MPs, including the Morobe governor.
However, I would like to remind the writer and those who do not understand how a government system operates.
There is a clear separation of roles and responsibilities regarding what a politician can do and what he/she cannot do.
The elected MP does not provide goods and services. He/she is responsible for policy making and decisions.
The responsibility for providing goods and services rest with the public administration, either national, provincial or local level governments.
Failure to make good policies for sound public service deliveries and/or private markets, again depend on the National Government, in which the Lae MP is part of that system and can be blamed for it for the breakdown in service delivery.
I am pretty sure, under his leadership for the last 15 years, Mr Philemon has been the most transparent leader in terms of being accountable financially for the public funds from National Government for Lae Open, unlike other Morobean MPs.
His records speaks for itself and this is why he continues to win his seat despite challenges from people using huge monies and hosting parties and creating false hope by sponsoring sports, churches, women’s groups, youths, etc, only to stop their support when they lose in elections.
With regard to performance accountability, it is about time the MP sits in the Lae district office and provides the leadership necessary for Lae city authority and Lae district administration to start working.
The problems in Lae city are complex and getting out of hand because the root causes of the matter were never addressed by the past and current provincial government.
So please don’t blame the Lae MP for all the chaos that is happening in the city because the big picture stinks!

Franco Wawen
Via email