Roles of LLG, DDA different, says Powi

THERE is a confusion over the function of district development authority (DDA) and the local level government since the former was introduced, the Southern Highlands assembly was told.
During the recent provincial assembly meeting in Mendi, Southern Highlands Governor William Powi said the DDA was only a vessel for service delivery and not a third-tier government.
He said the third-tier government was the local-level government council. Powi said the concept of effective service delivery had been misconstrued by many, including the chairmen the DDAs who thought they were more powerful than LLG presidents and their LLGs, the mandated third-tier government.
He said he had seen a lot of challenges between local level governments and the DDA. Powi said the DDAs should not take over the work of the LLGs but they should complement each other and work together to facilitate and take the lead in service delivery.
He said the experience was that the LLGs and their presidents were not actively participating in the DDA meetings as politics came into play while the functions of printing or organising cheques had been moved to major centres such as Port Moresby.
“The challenge is that LLGs and the DDAs are not working together. That is not the spirit of the establishment of the DDA, the DDAs play a service delivery function in the district,” Powi said.
He said the DDA was a great concept but politics came into play and that was the major issue affecting effective service delivery at the district and LLG level.
He said some of the major political issues confronting the LLGs and the DDAs in working together was the fear that the LLG presidents might challenge the local MPs in the elections which further restricted the president and the MP from working together.