Yama calls for more power

By DALE LUMA
MADANG Governor Peter Yama has called on the Government to give more power to the provinces to drive their own economies.
Yama told The National in Port Moresby that it would enable the governors to run their own provinces while the Government focuses only on the policy and regulatory aspects of governance. This will encourage provinces to build their own economies while contributing to the national economy through tax,” he said.
“The Government should give more teeth, more autonomy and more power to provinces to drive their own economy.
“Let us play by our own rules out there and see who the best managers are. “The governors should run their own provinces while the government should only make policy directions (and) watch us.
“Let us see which government is a survivor and can make money.
If they survive, they survive.
“Some of the powers withheld at Waigani should now be transferred out to the provinces to build and sustain our own economy.
“That’s the way to manage ourselves.
We should not be asking the Government all the time to give us money to run our provinces, then waiting for the budget to come.
“That’s not the way we should be thinking. We should be thinking beyond that.”
Yama said whatever was due to the government would be paid.