Sia sworn in, vows to instil honesty in province

By ZACHERY PER
EASTERN Highlands Governor Simon Sia was sworn in yesterday, calling himself a “Goroka kid” who hopes to raise the standard of living for the 800,000 people of the province.
“With my team of young energetic MPs, we will stop the manipulation of the government system by corruption,” he said.
“I am not new to the province, I have lived here for 40 years and privileged to develop family ties, business relationships with the people.
“I realise the importance of raising the standard of living for the people which we missed out in the last two decades.”
The businessman said Government services in the province had collapsed and the province was “moving backwards, the administration is very weak and malfunctioning, and cannot deliver basic services”.
Sia said public servants had been sitting idle helping themselves in the pretext of delivering services.
He vowed to instil honesty, respect, transparency and accountability which the province lacked badly.
“To achieve these, I need the cooperation of the eight MPs, 24 local level government presidents and 264 ward councilors.
“It starts with punctuality by public servants.”
He called on LLG presidents issued with new vehicles by the former Governor to return the vehicles to the provincial car park. He gave them a week to do so.
He said all Government vehicles will be painted red (EH color) and carry the provincial government number plates.