Vele: Focus on service, not funds

 By ELIZABETH MIAE

THE focus of all levels of government should be on providing services and not on the lack of funding, acting Secretary for Treasury Dairi Vele says.

He told heads of departments, cabinet ministers, governors and provincial administrators at the National Leaders Summit in Port Moresby yesterday that money should not be their problem.

“Money is not our problem. It is our ability to efficiently spend the money which is our problem,” he said.

“Having more money is not going to fix our problem. We have to focus on implementation issues.”

He encouraged the leaders to focus on their shortcomings on implementation and if revenue was unavailable, they should find ways to cut costs.

Vele was responding to comments by some department heads last week that they were unable to implement their three key priority projects because of lack of funding. 

He said there should be better and more effective communication between governors, ministers and bureaucrats to address that issue.

“Ministers and governors need to take charge of their own budgets,” he said.