Polye disagrees with claims of financial failure

FINANCE Minister Don Polye has given an assurance that there will not be any financial and governance failure in Papua New Guinea.
Polye, who is Kandep MP, described the claims made by Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare as “wishful thinking”.
He told PNG’s development partners, investors and the business community that what Sir Michael had suggested was “irresponsible media propaganda”.
“The financial management record of the O’Neill-Namah government is in order.
“Upon the closing down of the financial year, all indications are that PNG’s financial affairs have been well managed in the last five months of 2011. This is highly commendable considering that this has been achieved during a period of political turmoil and economic uncertainty,” Polye said.
He said the government had ensured funds were spent on priority areas and were not mismanaged or allowed to be stolen by any individual.
“Our greatest challenge is to effectively and efficiently implement the 2012 budget. Firstly, we will start by delivering monies under the tuition free and subsidised education policy.
“The government will also ensure grants for provincial governments are released quickly so that they can attend to the needs of their people. And I encourage all provincial governments to pass their respective budgets and have them presented as soon as possible.”
Polye said the government was focused on rebuilding an efficient working relationship with the provincial and local governments, NGOs, development partners, foreign missions and the churches to achieve best results.
“I urge the critics, including Grand Chief Somare not to speculate and criticise the government unnecessarily,” he said.
He also accused former acting prime minister Sam Abal “for squandering a lot of the people’s money on projects that were of little or no benefit” including the K125 million loan from Nasfund and the IPIC loan.
“I state with confidence that there has never been and never will be any financial or governance failure under the O’Neill-Namah government.
“As treasurer, I will support all the good policies that this government strives to implement for the betterment of our people,” Polye said.