Sir Puka: Amend organic law

 PUBLIC Service Minister Sir Puka Temu says certain provisions of the Organic Law for provincial and local level governments need to be amended.

Sir Puka told Parliament yesterday that he was seeking legal advice on the proposed amendments.

He said MPs needed to take a holistic approach to address capacity issues in their provincial administration.

He was responding to a request by Gulf Governor Havila Kavo to have an additional district administrator for Kerema to improve service delivery there.

Sir Puka said members of parliament should not look at one particular area at a time but address the issue as a province.

He said New Ireland and Southern Highlands had taken that holistic approach and were able to improve the capacity of their districts.

“Kerema district is big and I agree that it should have two district administrators to cover the coastal and inland areas,” he said. 

Manus MP Ronny Knight also urged Sir Puka to fast-track the appointment of a district administrator for the province.

He said implementation of district service programmes would be halted if there was no district administrator to give advice.

Sir Puka said he had instructed the department to create a position for a district administrator to serve under the MP.

He said changes could not be effected because he was informed by the provincial administrator that current structures of the organic law on provincial and local level governments needed to be amended.