Set policies to protect funds, says Bird

EAST Sepik Governor Allan Bird has questioned whether the Government should be involved in business transactions.
Bird told Parliament yesterday during grievance debate on the K3billion Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) Loan report by Ombudsman Commission that a decision has to be made on whether the government of the day should be involved in business transactions.
“If we decide that governments should be allowed to be involved in business transactions, then we must come up with policies to guide and map out what they can do.”
Bird also said that at any time a government wanted to make decisions that would impact the consolidated funds, it should be brought to the floor first.
“We need to start making policies that will protect the people’s money,” he said.
“Decisions about public money should be made in public and in a transparent way.
Bird said that the K3 billion loan could have been used to build national highways, a hospital and schools.
“But the Government decided to take a gamble with the people’s money.”
“It made a bet whilst knowing that there was a chance we could lose it.”