Posted By Staff Reporter
Commentary by Joseph Muna The State of Emergency was called when it was not needed because of the power interests of Bryan Kramer and David Manning, and James Marape knows he has made a massive mistake. There is no Coronavirus in Papua New Guinea, this is a statement that has been made over and over again by James Marape, but still he has given in and agreed to declare a State of Emergency that he does not know how to justify. This sham State of Emergency has brought great disadvantage to many Papua New Guineans, it has cost jobs, harmed small businesses and split families, and it has also undermined preparations for if and when the Coronavirus enters Papua New Guinea. What this means is that preparations that could be underway for if and when Coronavirus enters Papua New Guinea are being put behind schedule. Right now, if there are no cases of COVID-19 in the country, our people should be working to build defences. We do not need an SOE to do this, and the reality is an SOE prevents this planning from taking place. Preparations require people to move around and establish stocks of medical supplies and food in regional centres, to put in place alternate business and working processes, and for medical and security personnel to move and be pre-positioned for the arrival of the virus. Medical staff and workers require time and resources to be able to move around to build testing laboratories and quarantine stations, but right now this is being hampered and making our country even more under prepared. We need this time to distribute personal protection equipment for healthcare workers and security personnel, but this is happening too slow. Then, the moment COVID-19 is declared to be in the country, the SOE must come into immediate effect without question, and we know our people will be prepared and ready. As a military man this is how we know operations of national emergency should be run when we are facing a clear and specific enemy, not this haphazard and ill-prepared mess we are seeing from the Marape-Kramer actions. James Marape knows he was weak and gave into pressure from Bryan Kramer and David Manning to call the State of Emergency to serve their own power demands. These are the quest for personal power that comes with the SOE through the use of force, and the paying allowances to keep certain members of the police loyal. We all recall that Finance Minister James Marape illegally increased this daily allowance to K500 per day at the end of APEC and now K7,000 is being payed to police who are close to Kramer and Manning for the two weeks of the SOE. Marape and Kramer must reveal how many personnel are engaged in this SOE and the costs involved, because this is a lot of money that the government must account for properly. There is also the further financial control that comes with massive spending on companies, often owned by the wives of leaders and senior officers, such as in hire cars and catering that will come to millions of Kina. But, there is nothing the SOE Statutory Instrument that enables the true accountability of public funds during this period. In fact part 9 of the Statutory Instrument states that “The National Procurement Act 2018 and the Public Finance (Management) Act 1995 must not apply to all procurement for the purpose of the national emergency.” This means that the Controller has complete control over spending with no checks and balances on the money spent, and while there must a report to NEC in three months on spending, this will not be made public. We are already hearing stories of hundreds of vehicles being hired, catering contracts with relatives of politicians and police personnel, and hundreds of thousands of Kina in allowances being paid out. Next : Underlying FACTS On PNGLNG That Leads Up To UBS Loan, Sacrificed Papua LNG And PNG Economy Downfall Comments are closed.
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