Service providers for polls yet to be paid

IT has been four months since the return of writs and we, the service pro­viders, are yet to see our claims being paid.
We have rendered our services to the Electoral Commission during the election period in good faith by providing logistics, catering, lodging and other services.
The national election was conducted smoothly and completed on time with the help from service providers as we provided the bulk of the services needed to run the elections.
As such we have lodged our claims through the pro­vincial election of­fi­ces and waited patiently for payments but nothing is forthcoming.
Therefore, many of us who could afford to fund our way to Port Moresby to pursue our claims, have already exhausted our little resources we brought and are now living on “booking” or borrowed money.
The high interest rates on these “booking mo­ney” will drain us dry.
After all these unnecessary expenses, I wonder how much one will take home and how we will tell our family members who are waiting with high hopes especially when the festive season is just around the corner.
It is frustrating to hear that the national government is not releasing funds to settle such debts.
If the national government can source and ap­prove millions of kina overnight to fund the up­grading of roads in Port Moresby for the royal vi­sit, which was not factored in the 2012 budget, I wonder why it is taking so long to release the funds to pay service providers once and for all.
Please, can the national government, through the de­partments of finance and treasury, make funds available as a matter of urgency for the Electoral Commission to pay us, the service providers, as soon as possible as Christmas
is fast approaching and
we need to go back to our respective provinces to spend the festive season with our loved ones.

Yano Tange
Port Moresby