Comments

Dear Rabunaf Thank you for your encouraging comments. I also appreciate your questions about the implications of devolved funding for the public financial management act, particularly in regards to implementation and accountability processes. Specifically, you mention a major roadblock to effective spending might be the length of time it takes to procure projects through the Provincial Supplies and Tenders Board (PSTB) and the Central Supplies and Tenders Board (CSTB), depending on the amount. I agree this will be very challenging, especially for larger provinces like the Eastern Highlands that have 8 districts and therefore 8 JDP/BPCs receiving K10m each, not to a mention a PSIP allocation of K40m and LLGSIP funds. Added together, that is a lot of project funding to procure in one province in one financial year, which I think will mean significant delays between deciding on projects to be funded and actual implementation. Both JDP and JPP projects will also be dependent on the Provincial and District Treasuries to access funding, many of which probably do not have the capacity to manage much larger volumes of funds. You also raise another important point about the limited financial delegations of District Administrators even though they are CEOs to the JDP/BPC and responsible for implementing its decisions. The District Administrator will need to rely on the Provincial Administrator, who has higher financial delegations and is therefore ultimately accountable for approving spending on larger projects that were agreed by the JDP. I am not sure that all Provincial Administrators will feel comfortable approving spending on large projects when they were not part of the decision making process. I will continue to look into these issues more specifically as the year progresses. Thanks again, Colin

Dear Collin, Thank you for the post and I hope Papua New Guineans can grasp and understand the underlying facts in your post; but critically, I agree that drastic base level developments need to start in the country. It is the implementation aspect in terms of the financial procedures and processes of accountability within the PFMA and concurrently with the provisions of the OLPG&LLG that need to be consulted. Firstly, how can the provisions of Section 33A & 33B of OLPG&LLG be implemented when PFMA does not recognise JDP&BPCs as it does with PSTBs and the CSTB? This will mean that to comply with PFMA, all projects above K100,000 Certificate of Works level will be referred to PSTB (below K3 million level) and to CSTB (above K3 million and less than K10 million)...how long will that take? Secondly, does the JDP&BPC have financial powers to deliberate upon how much is allocated against projects? If so, do they and their MP have financial powers such as Section 32 or 29 within PFMA to execute decisions with financial implications. Thirdly, does the District Administrator have Section 32 financial powers of PFMA to be CEO to JDP&BPC and advise on finance above the delegatory limit of K10,000? Finally, given the large shift of finances to Districts and Local Level Governments and the large roles given to MPs as Chairpersons the following legislatures have to be amended to instill greater accountability and governance: 1. 89 Electorate MPs should cease to be given Ministerial Portfolios but become ordinary MPs; and, 2. 22 Governors be automatically made Ministers and from within them they vote a PM and DPM since they are the only ones voted in by the whole province! Collin, accountability and governance are not the same face of the coin...the latter smiles while the other grinds like the edge of a K1 coin. God Bless Brother, Speak loud and strong for PNG!

Hi Colin, Thanks for another great post which I found very thought provoking on a number of levels. One area that I have been thinking about since reading this item is that of accountability and whether the governance arrangements for devolved spending can indeed improve it. Accountability is, I feel, a bit like development - it is a process rather than a product. But the framework outlined here could add to that process I feel. It seems to me that one of the spin-offs of putting the MPs at the heart of the decision-making processes at various levels is that it would be reasonable to expect that MPs will spend more time in their constituencies than might previously have been the case (to do the decision-making, allocating, etc). This, in turn, creates an opportunity for MPs and their constituents to have ongoing dialogue about issues (sure starting out with local but possibly extending to national and even international) and thus a culture of accountability can be nurtured. Accountability is a two-way street. Constituents need information to inform their scrutiny and support to take on an assertive role in holding their elected representatives to account. MPs need information in order to address the questions raised by constituents and possibly learn to be comfortable with being asked questions. Facilitating dialogue around how these funds have been allocated and spent strikes me as a great way to develop improved political engagement more generally

Hi Charlie, Thanks for your comment, and sorry for the late reply. There were a number of reasons cited for the decline in community participation, including: monetary pressures, expectation that the government will provide everything, and suspicion and mistrust between school management and the community. Having said this the reasons for declining community involvement with schools does deserve some further in-depth research. Cheers Grant

Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply, and for raising some very interesting questions. Please forgive my rather late reply – I officially start work today, and just came across your comments. The schools I went to were in Port Moresby, which is atypical in a sense that it is an urban centre. But the issue about the fit between education and employment still came up. Teachers in particular were concerned that parents didn’t value schooling because the jobs their children were likely to get in didn’t require higher levels of education. One primary teacher said that some parents preferred their kids sell buai and other items on the street rather than attend school. The monetary pressures on parents are certainly contributing to their lack of engagement with schools - as the teacher from Hohola said, ‘now everyone needs money to survive’. It makes sense that not seeing a link between education and employment also contributes to the community’s lack of willingness to contribute to schools. The LNG project is not going to come close to providing the jobs that PNG needs – in fact the current cohort of 8000 Papua New Guinean employees is being downsized. As you suggest, Papua New Guineans need opportunities to be involved in a range of skilled and unskilled work outside of these large extractive industries. Perhaps Australia could help by expanding the Pacific Seasonal Workers program to include semi-skilled and skilled jobs in industries where Australia has a shortage of labour? This could be linked to Papua New Guinean TAFEs, Universities and Schools. Just a thought. While I agree there is a bigger picture to consider, we shouldn’t undervalue addressing problems in primary schools. As has been shown in many developing countries, basic education has positive benefits well beyond the classroom. Cheers, Grant

Hi Tess, I fully agree. I would argue that the country or community that is likely to be impacted by any development path or change participate in taking the decisions on that path. The subsequent development should also be fully transparent and accounted for so that the impacted community can make sure it stays on path. The same argument underpins participatory budgeting. And it works! I will talk about this some more and give examples in my final blog. Steve

What follow up has been undertaken by the relevant parties since the Economic Dialogue Meeting? Is it possible for the Reserve Bank or the relevant responsible authorities to let people know what action has been undertaken since the Dialogue meeting. The excellent presentation by the women led by Robina Nakao and Aloma Johannsen and their team had some specific sensible suggestions. Regular releases on action taken since the meeting would generate some "ownership" of the problems, builld confidence among the wider commnity and stimulate discussions and possible solutions that can be implemented. I am sure that there has been some good work done since the meeting. Who is on the National Growth Committee, how many times have they met? What have been the results? There were some interesting challenges to the accuracy of the statistics provided by Government with regards to remittances, value of agricultural exports and tourism earnings which were going to be looked into by the relevant parties. News on the progress made in these areas would be much appreciated. And if there is a record of themeeting with follow up action points indicating who is responsible for the follow up, this would also be useful Look forward to receiving any information you may be able to provide. Stephen Vete Hala Sipu, Kolomotu'a

Hi Steve, I would add another question which is that of 'why'? Why is this development path being pursued rather than another one, why is this 'solution' better for our country or community? The 'why' of change is often hard to articulate and communicate but I can't help feeling that a shared understanding around 'why' is a prerequisite for buy-in whether political or otherwise and needs to underpin any meaningful attempt at implementation. Tess

Hi Judy, What were the details of the outcomes the people themselves came up with? Would or could they work elsewhere? 'Workshops' per se are great to air everyone's views but must lead to practical solutions otherwise they just end up being self actualizing talk fests. Either that or they end up becoming opportunities for some to lecture others about what their audience is supposed to know. I do hope the workshop mentioned didn't just become a flash in the pan and not end up being carried through to some workable and ongoing practical solutions? People need to see that any potential solution to this problem that can and will make an impact must be culturally acceptable and therefore able to be implemented by those affected. BTW - Isn't Kaugere where Lydia and Peter Kailap are running their amazing children's music school without any help from AusAID?

Hi Judy, This work certainly sounds interesting and it would be good to hear what the impacts were both in the immediate term and more long term. Tess

This is not just an issue of Lae City, but across PNG. We ran a workshop in 2009 at the request of the Kaugere community ( a settlement in Moresby), and while the original request was to focus on human rights in relationship to 'family' or domestic violence, we included issues of sexual violence, including violence against children. It was hard and painful for people to move from 'domestic violence' to the broader but more relevant issue of violence in all its forms within PNG society. Starting with the UN Dec. on the Rights of the Child, moving to Human Rights and then Indigenous Rights, we drew out law and order as a basic human (including child) right, and asked the group to develop and action plan and what they would do to start to build basic human rights in their community. We started with 19 men and 23 women (and 35 children) on the first day and finished the week with 29 men and 43 women. In other words, people were really interested and they came up with creative and powerful commitments to what they could do for themselves ... because the law, as a protective force, does not reach into their community.

On the main topic of this post, which is the proposed Fiji constitution, it will be a daunting task for anyone to come up with good comments by April 5. Even for an avowed trained political junkie like me, it is hard to analyze this complex text in a few days. Nevertheless for those who might be tempted do look at these two very interesting issues: - the role of the Electoral Commission which has the power to modify the composition of Parliament after each election. - the delicate balance of budgetary powers, with money bills having to originate from the Executive but the President only having seven days to approve the enacted bill. One good thing is the seeming lack of ethnic quotas.