The National Cultural Commission was previously neglected by the government because of internal mismanagement.
The Tourism, Arts & Culture Minister made this statement during the recent launch of West New Britain’s mask festivals.
Emil Tammur said the NCC, one of PNG’s oldest institutions, was not able to carry out its mandated role of protecting and promoting the nation’s diverse culture due to the lack of accountability.
“We went into a period where the agency itself wasn’t functioning,” Tammur said. “We had a couple of acting appointments since 2017 and in 2019, we decided to get in Steven Kilanda, who was from the museum; because it’s a sister agency so we got him on board.
“In about 10 months, the acting director, Mr Steven Kilanda, just overturned the agency to where it is now.”
Minister Tammur likened the NCC’s previous operations to that of a district office, adding because of the government’s lack of confidence in it, the administration of cultural events was handed over to the Tourism Promotion Authority.
“The main mandated role of TPA was to promote Papua New Guinea,” clarified the Minister. “Now we are trying to put everything back together where NCC now will take up its mandated role by making sure that all the cultural events around the country come under the National Cultural Commission.”
And in alignment with the Prime Minister’s vision, the NCC will be taking PNG back through culture. Minister Tammur said the first step taken was through the launch of the Gogodala canoe festival in Balimo – the first cultural event on the 2020 calendar.
The second event was the launching of the Maula and Balala Mask Festival of West New Britain on June 1st.