Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari

“The Steering Committee on National Elections was not created overnight,” he says.

“It was set up and utilised by past governments to provide advice to the Electoral Commission on the smooth running of the elections.

“The Committee liaises with the Electoral Commission and brings to the attention of the government issues they face so these can be dealt with in an expedited manner.

“These are mainly funding and administrative issues.”

Lupari says as Chief Secretary, he chairs the Steering Committee.

In this year’s national budget, the National Government allocated K400 million to fund the country’s election.

In a statement, Lupari said two separate trust accounts have been created – one for PNG Electoral Commission to draw its K279 million and the other for security agencies to draw down their K121 million for election security operations.

Electoral Commissioner Patilias Gamato and Police Commissioner Gari Baki will look after their individual trust accounts.

Chief Secretary to the Government Isaac Lupari when speaking at the 2017 Leaders’ Summit on Monday said this amount is too much and will be looking into the public service to decrease the amount.

He said the Government will be implementing the public service reform to downsize the number of public service recruitment.

“We do not need duplications of job in the public services.

“This is the biggest monster that is eating away the budget of the country,” he said.

About 200,000 public servants are currently employed which is about 2% of the total population.

Originally planned for last week, Lupari said the meeting was pushed back after a number of provincial delegations experienced travel delays.

“There were a number of governors and provincial officials who were unable to arrive for the Wednesday morning meeting,” the Chief Secretary said.

“Their inclusion in discussions is important, so the Leaders’ Summit will now take place before the next sitting of Parliament convenes in the afternoon of 28 February.

The service was hosted for the first time at the Sir john Guise Indoor Complex and facilitated by the Department of Community Development, Youth and Religion.

The event marked the official prayer and dedication year for all public servants throughout the country.

The theme for the dedication service was ‘Servants of God Chosen and Called to Serve’.

The ceremony was attended by Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari with all department heads to open the new public service year.

The operation will be launched today (January 9) with 300 security personnel from the PNG Defence Force and Police deployed to the area for three months.

Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari confirmed that the total estimate approved by cabinet is K11 million for 60 days and they will make sure that the funding is available.

Lupari said they are supported by Oil Search to provide logistics, including accommodation, allowances, transport and meals on ground for the security personnel.

Speaking to Loop PNG during the deployment of joint security personnel, he said the Government has not received news or information on the landslide occurring over the weekend at Guo outside of Kundiawa, in Chimbu Province. Once they do, they will act accordingly.

The landslide at Guo, which is five minutes from Kundiawa Town, Chimbu, completely shut off the highway yesterday (Saturday) after continuous rain.

Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari urges the leaders at all levels to help the security operation in order to restore law and order in Hela.

The general law and order in the province has declined dramatically with continuous tribal fights involving high-powered weapons.

Lupari made the call following the deployment of 300 security personnel from the defence force and police to carry out the three-month security operation.

Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari said the LNG project is a major contributor to the country’s economy. 

The call-out was a result of reports of a dramatic decline in general law and order in the province in the past 12 months.

Continuous tribal fights involving high-powered weapons have threatened the LNG project, including the lives of people who work in different project sites in the province.

Lupari said if the project is affected, it will seriously damage the country in terms of employment, revenues and PNG’s reputation internationally.

This was the assurance Lupari recently gave to members of the Diplomatic Community, who are also representatives of the 20 economies.

The Chief Secretary said infrastructure development has been a part of government’s key priorities and therefore has been budgeted for by the Government.

“You will see in Port Moresby, the road network is absolutely fantastic,” he said.

“We knew that we would have some issues trying to take leaders to their accommodation therefore the flyover was built to make it easier.