Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD)

Secretary Aihi Vaki made this call when accepting DSIP acquittals for Sohe district yesterday.

"You have to clean your backyard before the Member of Parliament goes to election next year. We want to see that provinces and districts who face Implementation constraints can consult DIRD for technical advice and support when rolling out SIP programs," Mr Vaki said.   

Meantime, DIRD Deputy Secretary- Program Implementation Wing, Gordon Wafimbi

These funds must be expended on impact projects that are economical and sustainable for effective basic service delivery to improve the livelihood of the rural villages and communities.

DIRD acting Secretary, Aihi Vaki, stressed that SIP funds must be spent based on the five year development plans and projected budget estimates, as approved by the Joint Provincial Planning and Budget Priorities Committee (JPP & BPC) and District Development Authority (DDA).   

During the presentation by the Namatanai District Development Authority (NDDA) board on Friday, deputy secretary operations of the DIRD, Steven Rambe, said: “Thank you for doing the right thing. This is evidence to show that you are delivering for our people and it shows how funds are being used to develop the district.

“I commend you for putting people’s interest first among any other things and that should be emulated by all the other MPs,” Rambe told Namatanai MP Walter Schnaubelt.

The Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD) Acting Secretary, Aihi Vaki, says administrations at the subnational level fail by not submitting services improvement program (SIP) reports, including 5-year development plans, as required by the law.

The deadline for furnishing acquittal reports and five-year development plans has lapsed for the last term of parliament 2013-2017, and those provincial and district administrations that have failed should be blamed for non-compliance.   

Dr Lino Tom said this yesterday when presenting acquittals for Wabag District for 2015, 2016 and the first half of 2017.

The acquittals were presented to the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD).

Dr Tom said the failure to provide acquittals by his predecessor needed to be rectified and spent time with his administration sorting out the books.

He said he wants to see a high level of openness as part of service delivery.

Finance Minister James Marape also called on them to not expect handouts when carrying out their duties.

Marape made the statement during a recent visit to the DIRD.

He said with the Government funnelling money right down to the sub-national government, he wanted to see proper acquittals of the funds to avoid mismanagement.

Marape said he will push for the DIRD to be entrenched into a fully-fledged department as well as have financial powers to disburse and manage discretionary funds such as provincial and district support improvement program funds and grants.

Finance Minister James Marape announced this during a meeting with the Department of Implementation and Rural Development (DIRD).

Marape said he will push in cabinet to ensure sub-national governments are compliant by providing their acquittals of funds disbursed to them.

Marape, along with his vice and Ambunti-Dreikikir MP, Johnson Wapunai, met DIRD management and staff this week to reinforce the Government’s objectives.

He also sounded a warning to provinces and districts to be compliant in furnishing their acquittals.

“The SIP is an overarching policy intervention designed to provide tangible development in the provinces, districts & LLGs,” says Gumine MP and Minister for Education, Nick Kuman.

“The program has delivered education and health infrastructure, roads, bridges, SMEs, law & order, rural electrification and water supply project, among others.

“For the first time since independence, we see that real development.”

Last week, in a meeting after the site inspection were conducted to all three (3) local level government council (LLGs) in the district, DIRD noted that the district already had various government sectors like education, health, works, police, commerce, forestry, disaster officer, community development, agriculture, business development officers and about 100 public servants working in the district.

The announcement of planned mergers of agencies of government is a cost-cutting measure to curb government spending for the 2017 fiscal year. This was announced during the debate on the 2017 budget handed down last Tuesday by Treasury Minister Patrick Pruaitch.

Minister for Civil Aviation, Davis Steven, says while the public service bill continues to impose a real challenge, cost cutting by merging two important departments (DIRD & DPNM) may be counter-productive and should not be permitted without broad discussion.