East Sepik Governor Allan Bird has responded to the Prime Minister’s concerns about his prudent management of K100 million in his provincial budget. ESPG Bird stated, “Unfortunately, I don't read the PMs public statements anymore because they are mass produced and quite frankly, not worth reading. So, I missed this one until someone pointed out that I should respond. Apparently, I hit a raw nerve somewhere to attract the ire of the PM.” “Unlike PM JM, I believe in transparency and good governance. So when project funds come to the province we ensure they are spent in the right places.” He said, the Provincial Government does not have the luxury to misappropriate funds and pass a supplementary budget to legalize the misappropriation at the end of the year. Thus, they also hardly receive any PIP funds, but when they do, Bird stated that he insists on Public Servants using the funds for the benefit of the people following the Public Finance Management rules, so funds are not stolen or misappropriated. ICAC made a statement earlier this year that up to K5 billion a year of public funds is misappropriated in PNG annually (The National, September 26, 2024). “Thankfully that misappropriation did not occur in ESP”, said ESPG Bird. “Just this week, the Ombudsman Commission directed an investigation into a payment listing that looks a lot like ‘thank you’ for political support costing the country over K250 million.” “I wonder how often this practice has occurred under the management of our good PM?” “PM JM knows very well that the work of MPs is oversight, not micromanagement. Implementation is the work of the Public Service. It's not my job to award contracts, supervise work or raise cheques.” “Perhaps because he is micromanaging the country, he expects all MPs to do the same. Some of us are trained in management, we know where the boundaries are, I have never once interfered with the operations of any public servants in ESP” “I let them do their job. They can be slow, and I don't like it, but I won't give them a list of people to pay.” Meanwhile, Governor Bird said, in terms of service delivery in ESP, the following services need significant improvement. They are: 1. Law Enforcement, 2. Electricity supplies, 3. Water supplies in town, 4. Lack of Foreign exchange, 5. Lack of fuel supplies, 6. Maintenance of National highways He said, “last time I checked, these are all National Government responsibilities: not Provincial.” “On that note, let me say how pleased I am that NEC will be awarding the tenders for our Sepik Roads soon. I hope the tender amounts will be paid into a trust account to ensure the contractors get paid and not have them waiting at DOW for many months to be paid as is the current practice.” “So can the PM kindly spell out which Provincial Government responsibilities we have failed to deliver on?”, said Governor Bird. He further stated that instead of worrying about K100m that they have been carefully ensuring does not get stolen or squandered because of lack of Implementation, perhaps PM Marape should be more concerned about the billions of kina that are going missing every year under his watch. “I also fail to understand how PM JM tries to equate leadership with how much money you can spend. Is he saying that if I blindly spent all K100m I would’ve done a good job? Perhaps this is the practice in Hela province.” "Since it is common knowledge, our good PM is selectively managing all warrants in Treasury and the cash in Finance, I am sure he knows precisely who is getting paid and when," said Governor Bird. “He can start by coming clean on the K250m that is now under investigation by the OC. And perhaps he might care to shed light on how hundreds of millions were paid to Paraka Lawyers under his watch and direction without clearance from the Attorney General, without tender and without contract.” He said, worrying about a province being careful not to waste limited funding without due process should be the least of his concerns. “If anything, he should be pleased that ESPG under my watch respects the rule of law, protects public funds and ensures they are spent as intended, for the public good. Not paying out cronies and political supporters using questionable invoices and documents. Let me repeat, implementation is the responsibility of the line department, in this case the ESPA.” All funds have been committed for expenditure and now that the PM is interested in these funds, I am certain the ESP public servants will make haste in spending the money according to the proper rules and processes. Governor Bird said, his responsibility remains governance and oversight. Not implementation. If the Sepik people had issues with his management of the province, they would not have elected him with an absolute majority in 2022. “I didn't need warlords with guns, intimidation or stuffing of ballot boxes to achieve that outcome.” International donors prefer to work with an honest and transparent government, and therefore, ESPG continues to enjoy the confidence of international donors and partners. “I am proud that even while PNG is regarded as one the most corrupt nations in the world, the ESPG does not share that distinction.