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| Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel. |
By WANPIS AKO
The usual business of statutory bodies to collect revenues-on behalf of the government and spend it outside the main budget-will now become a thing of the past, following the passage of the Public Money Management Regularization Bill by Parliament this week, according to the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer Charles Abel.
Mr Abel said that meant by the force of the Act, their discretion has been stripped, adding their revenues would now come under the scrutiny of Parliament through the budgetary process.
He said they would be obliged to use at least a minimum of 10 percent of their annual revenue collection for operations and other associated costs.
Treasurer Abel added this would be multiplied had they been undertaking impact projects within their organizations.
Conducting awareness on the piece of legislation today (Thursday, February 15, 2018) at a media conference in Parliament’s state function room, Abel said that the legislation would allow the government-through the Department of Finance- to have access to their revenues and channel it into Waigani Public Account to finance 2018 Budget and beyond.
Mr Abel said it was part of the government’s budget strategy to finance expenditure shortfalls in the budget.
The bill was passed in the wake of ongoing concerns raised by the Parliamentary Opposition on crucial figures of the public revenue and expenditures being omitted in the Budget and other related documents to paint a rosy picture about the economy.
Complaining about the feeling its pinch on Facebook, citizens have also joined the chorus with the alternative government in taking the government to task about the downturn in the economy.
Opposition’s stalwart and Sinesine-Yongomugl MP Kerenga should be a happy man now that what he had been advocating on the constitutional principle, has been captured in this legislation.
The bill is now before the Governor-General Sir Bob Dadae’s office for sanction. When it gets certified, it will now become a law for parties concerned to abide by.
Mr Abel admitted that the economy was taking a nose-dive.
However, the government was taking necessary steps to address it and the law is part of the much-debated 100-Day plan to recover the economy.
He revealed that the Departments of Treasury and Finance had a meeting with all the heads of statutory bodies to begin the process of implementing the law.
“The law is part of our 100-Day plan to maintain the integrity of the government’s budgetary process. One of the issues we talked about was the government’s revenue base which has been shrinking.
“The statutory bodies authorized to collect revenue on behalf of the government, have spent it on other means,” he explained to the reporters.
He stated that this effort was to ensure the government had a sufficient funds in the main budgetary pool to meet all the needs of the people through the DSIPs, PSIPs and other means.
Treasurer Abel added that the law reflected the spirit of Constitution which was lacking.
“If you want to use government money, it must be done through an act of Parliament. Our government is only trying to restore that constitutional principle,” he said.
Author Reference: Wanpis Ako has graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Journalism and Public Relations. He has briefly worked with two daily newspapers of Papua New Guinea-The National and Post Courier. His work experience has been extended into the Prime Minister Media Unit and the office of Parliamentary Opposition Leader of Papua New Guinea- not to mention the Ministries of Treasury, Higher Education, Communications, Information Technology and Energy. He has got over five years experience in digital marketing, branding, public affairs, media and public relations.
