ON ELECTORAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDS – STATE FUNDS OR PRIVATE MEMBERS MONEY - I have noticed that politicians make grand standing speeches and convince their electorates that they and they alone are responsible for the government services that reach the people. They claim or lead people to believe that they are responsible for bringing “funds” and “development” to their electorates and sing the praises of the government and the Peter O’Neil as if to say that if they had not been in government, such development would not have been possible. In actuality, this should not be the case. But in PNG, sadly this has become the norm. And so the politician does a lot of ass kissing to ensure that his electorate EDF is not delayed in the next budget. When projects in their electorates are initiated using DSIP funding they do not tell the people that these monies are funds from the State that are allocated to the people and the member is just a facilitator. By the same token, these funds are supposed to have been administered by the district administrators, not the local parliamentarian. By virtue of the law, whether an MP is in government or opposition is irrelevant; the electorate is still entitled to these development funds. The same can be said for money handed out for school fees for students from each electorate from district or electoral funds. It is definitely not from any politicians’ salary or business or pocket. No politician should say that he or she funded any project if the funding is from State funds. That is an outright falsehood and is a lie. If memory serves me right, there was only one politician who used his own personal funds to benefit his electorate and that was Sir Peter Barter. It is alarming and very disturbing to note that the print and electronic media are perpetuating this fallacy by reporting as if these funds were actually coming out of the politician’s pocket. Not one media outlet has pointed out that these are Electoral Development Funds under the DSIP Grants from the State Treasury as guaranteed to every electorate in PNG by law. The falsehood is being perpetrated by members and supported by the media creates the false belief in the minds of people that such benefits can only come if their member of parliament is in the government as opposed to the opposition. This gimmick is being used by the government to control the State funds and thereby starving the opposition members of parliament of electoral development funds that belong to those people in the opposition electorates. This is definitely not the intention of the correct and proper use of the DSIP funds. The media must truthfully and honestly say that these are the district’s DSIP or EDF funds and not the member’s funds. The semantics of the sentence and its structure are responsible for the conveying of the information which then forms a perception in the mind of the receiver. It is not WHAT they report but HOW they report that has a huge impact on the populace. Truthfulness in presentation of facts is important. To ensure that the legal rights of their constituents was not denied, certain members of the opposition have taken the matter to court resulting in favourable court orders the government continues to use excuse after excuse to withhold the funds for these citizens of PNG who also have the right to State development funds for their electorates and districts. We look forward to the day the Courts issues an arrest order for contempt of court against the Minister for the Treasury and his Secretary for their part in perpetuating this deceit and denial of the rights of their countrymen. Every educated and thinking Papua New Guinean must know that the country cannot properly progress and develop when it is being done in a lopsided manner as here where some of our brethrens are being made to suffer just because of their members’ seats on the floor of parliament… There is great wrong being perpetuated against our people here and it must be stopped. It is up to us in our own ways, means and capacities to properly educate our people so that they know that whether a member is in government or opposition has no impact on the delivery of services under the DSIP and EDP funds. Our brethrens have the same rights to development and government services and no government can justly or legitimately deny them of these rights. That is akin to depriving a child of food, water and shelter and if that were to happen to those in government, I do not think they would stand for it if the shoe were on the other foot. The mainstream media must also realise that they are also responsible for creating this culture in our people when they continuously print stories which make it look as if the politicians are digging into their own pockets to develop their electorate. And to that extent, they must shoulder some of the blame and take their share of responsibility for their actions and take corrective measures now. It was understood that these funds are supposed to be administered by the public servants at the district levels. Why is it that these public servants are always silent and the MPs most strident? Educated people have an obligation to spread the truth about this parade of lies being spread my members of parliament and supported by the media to justify their positions and create a false impression in the minds of the people that this government is the right government for the people. Things like this make the injustices being perpetrated take second place in the minds of the people who are brainwashed into believing that with this government gone, they will miss out on all government goods and services. Excuses are made to justify their support of a government that is dangling carrots before their eyes and while robbing them blind. What they cannot say is they are scared of losing fast access to the district’s legally guaranteed funding if they remove their support from the government. Hence their trip to the land of the millionaires might never eventuate. A politician said to me and some others friends that no matter what, he would support the present government as long as he was in parliament because of the services he delivered to his people through this government. And this was a very well educated person. He did not care about the rest of the country or the wrongs being perpetuated by the government of the days against its own citizens and the institutions and offices of State. No, his big concern was delivering services to his people – despite the fact that even in opposition or the middle benches, his district would still be entitled to these State funds. All he could see was his own political survival. And that is what almost all the politicians in parliament are doing. Any government can only survive for as long as there are numbers in government to pass legislation. And the most important of these is the national budget. I wonder where they were when the US government almost seized up. To my understanding, it has to take an absolute majority to pass certain bills in parliament without which no government can operate. When there are insufficient numbers to pass the State Budget which is the most important bill in any year, it creates a situation where it would be impossible for any government to operate. This would necessitate some drastic measures and perhaps dissolution of parliament would be one. I am hoping and praying for the day when our politicians will wake up in the morning and say this is the day when I make a stand for my country – when I will put my country before me and my political career – when I will say no to this continued travesty of democracy and do the right thing so that real democracy can prevail. When will I ask what I can do for my country and not just continue to take from it. I might have strayed a bit from the initial subject matter but I hope the interconnectedness of the various threads of thoughts comes through. If I have in some way convinced you of the wrongness in our current system, I am thankful for that.
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 21:28:40 +0000
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