Catholic Church’s stance against Govt’s slush fund

The Catholic Church in PNG is taking a strong stance against the government’s slush funds.

The Church says parliamentarians are abusing the constituency development funds, thus not only wasting public funds but also breeding chaos and corruption at all levels.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands first raised this concern in 2011 and yesterday renewed their stance, calling on the government to reverse this practice.

Bishop Rochus Tatamai, the President of CBC PNG and SI, said the slush funds are being used by MPs for personal wealth and gain, therefore defeating its purpose.

Bishop Tatamai stated that Parliamentarians are legislators of law, the country and their respective provinces’ budget planners and service providers.

But this trend of allocating slush funds and leaving it at the discretion of MPs is making most, if not all, MPs playing the role of financial administrators, hence, confusing and misrepresenting the roles they were mandated for.

Catholic Bishops Conference added that slush funds encourage free political handouts where, at the end, frames the mentality of people to expect free handouts from their MPs.

This results in the unfair and unequal distribution of services.

Backing up their stand, the Catholic Church of PNG will not accept or receive any payments budgeted or unbudgeted directly from Parliamentarians.

The Catholic Church is encouraging all Catholic run schools, health centres, congregations, parishes and dioceses to conduct awareness against this practice.

The Catholic Bishops Conference is appealing to other churches, NGOs and community organisations to stop accepting free political handouts facilitated directly by MPs.

 

 

Author: 
Carolyn Ure