Community members in Morobe Province have expressed mixed reactions and have publicly cried foul over the first-of-its-kind government allocation of funds to mark and celebrate the 2022 National Independence Day tomorrow.
Most of them did not support the government’s resolution to allocate K1million to each districts just to observe the national event.
They said the funds could have been prioritized on other vital services that were lacking in the remote parts of the country.
The Marape/Rosso government has announced it had sourced K1million from respective District Development Authority funds throughout the country which are yet to be disbursed to their accounts for them to celebrate the 47th Independence Day which falls this Friday.
Only minority of the citizens aired their views supporting the government’s resolution saying it’s important the government allocated funds to celebrate independence as its the country’s national event and should be celebrated using public funds.
Already schools, churches and communities started hosting sporting activities leading up to the observation of 16th September.
Dramas, traditional dances and other fun activities are part of the local organizers programme contents to witness.
Most local organizers said their planned activities are not to observe the national event just because government has announced funding.
They said the hosting of activities have been part of their annual celebration of independence day over the years without public funding support.