The Government has been fair in distributing the Provincial and District Services Improvement Programme (PSIP and DSIP) to all districts across the country.
Finance Minister James Marape revealed this today in Parliament in response to Deputy Opposition Leader and Wau-Bulolo MP Sam Basil claims.
Marape said the claims of Opposition MPs not getting their PSIP and DSIP are utterly lies and not true.
“This government has been fair to all district allocation and the indifferences raised by Opposition MPs claiming that they were not getting their funds were utterly nonsense and rubbish.”
His response did not go down well with Basil who raised a point of order saying he has all the records from the banks that his district just received K7 million from the total of K10 million last year and yet to get the remaining balance.
However, Marape defended himself saying he has records that all districts have received their funds fairly across the board.
In 2007, the National Government allocated K10 million to each of the 89 Districts in Papua New Guinea through the 2007 Additional Supplementary Budget.
These funds were to be managed through a District Services Improvement Program Trust Account.
The DSIP is designed for a holistic approach to service delivery, involving all stakeholders including Members of Parliament, National Departments and Agencies, Provincial Administrations, District Administrations and the recipients themselves (the people), taking into account the principles of ownership, affordability, sustainability and leadership.
The K10 million was to be spent on infrastructure and rehabilitation maintenance projects within a financial allocation to specific programs.