Yes, Hides authorities ‘legal’

THE Department for Provincial and Local Level Government says the Hides 4 PDL 7 and the Hides PDL 1 Special Purpose Authorities in Hela province are recognised entities established by law.
Minister Kevin Isifu and Secretary Dickson Guina said the two authorities are recognised and established government entities.
In an interview, Guina said there are two separate SPAs because there are two separate resource projects in Hides.
He said Hides PDL 7 SPA was established after receiving submissions from the Komo local level government council for the creation of an SPA separate from the Hides PDL 1 SPA.
Guina said the minister does not appoint people or create SPAs but the local level government makes the recommendations to the minister for the establishment of the authority, a government agency for delivering infrastructure development in the impacted project areas.
Guina said the minister only formalises the process. Everything is documented and facilitated at the local level government before submission to the minister who then formalises the creation of the SPAs in the resource project areas.
He says the appointment of the chairman and the board is also done by the people at the local level government and submitted by the LLG to them to be endorsed by the minister.
The secretary said the Hides PDL 7 SPA is a recognised entity, established under Organic Law that covers provincial and local level governments.
Some people have challenged the legality of the Hides PDL 7 Special Purpose Authority.
Guina said: “We are not aware of any fake SPA or entity they are talking about. All we know is that the two SPAs in Hides (Hides PDL 7 and PDL 1 SPA) have been established by law. They have followed all the processes, and this now put to rest any misunderstanding.”
According to documents sighted, the entity was established after meeting all the requirements and was gazetted on July 13 last year based on the licence-based benefit-sharing agreement (LBBSA) clause 6.2 of LBBSA of 2009, and a clause 14 of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in Hides in 2016 between state agencies.
The MOU of 2016 was endorsed and approved by the National Executive Council decision 240 of 2016.
The department then sent the notification of appointment to the Komo local level government council for the appointment of the board on December 12, 2016. Ten board members were endorsed by the Komo LLG and submitted to the department who facilitated the swearing-in ceremony by the Minister for Inter Government Relations on December 13 , 2017.
The chairman was elected by the board during the swearing-in ceremony.