The Vanimo Green MP has put out a statement, providing supporting commentary on the National Budget while also cautioning on certain aspects of it. MP Belden Namah said while the 2024 National Budget strengthens accountability in government, it also requires visibility on a certain fund frittered away in questionable allocations and urgent reviews in two important areas. He said the 2023 Budget was themed “Going Rural” and he expected the 2024 Budget to be themed “Going Rural Phase 2”, instead of the theme “Securing our Future’, as this year’s budget has not achieved what it was themed to achieve. “The Budget needs to make a positive impact on the lives of our people. So far we haven't seen that happening.” “Instead, we are witnessing massive rural-urban drift. A lot of people are now moving into towns and cities looking for employment and good life.” “However, they bring with them tribal and ethnic conflicts and bags full of problems and trouble.” He MP the budget strengthens accountability as there are significant increases in the three (3) arms of Government, especially in the goods and services funding allocations but made a call on the day’s and future Governments, not to cut budget allocations to Parliament & Judiciary as they are the two most important arms of the Government. MP Namah went onto comment on the visibility of Division 207 under the Department of Treasury that is called Miscellaneous, that he understands comes under the full control of the Treasurer. “My concern is that K2.9 billion is too much money to be under the control of one individual.” “Why are we parking such huge amounts of monies there? Why can't we allocate directly to implementing departments and agencies or better still fund projects and programs directly.” “Too often we park monies in Vote/Division 207 without expenditure plans and we end up spending on impulses. That has been a common practice and that must stop." He said parking lump sums of money under Miscellaneous and under the control of one person is very highly suspicious and is unconstitutional and promotes corruption. Namah commented that the reduction of 20% Log Export Tax from 70% to 50% is commendable and while it may provide relief to the forest industry, investor confidence is still lacking. “The Government must seriously take stock of the impact of this sector's overall contribution to the economy and work with the industry and develop a Win-Win situation for all including the resource owners and beneficiaries.” “I would have thought the Government should have reduced the Log Export Tax right down to 38.5%.” “This would have then created a conducive platform for Government to drive its Agri-Forestry and downstream policy initiatives.” Namah said he observed that there was no mention of the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) in the 2024 Budget and queried where all the revenue of the PNGLNG Project that was supposed to go into the SWF. “The 2024 budget theme is about "Securing the Future" and yet no mention is made in the same budget about SWF.” “The SWF is exactly about securing the future through developing a stabilization fund to cushion the country from the volatile resources commodity markets and also provide a secure fund for future generations to benefit.” According to Namah, the Kumul Petroleum Holdings Limited seems to have usurped the role of the SWF and it needs to come under scrutiny of the National Parliament and the public. “This budget is a deficit budget of over K3 Billion. Why can't the Government take a bold decision and abolish KPHL, recover all the proceeds of PNG LNG Gas sales held by KPHL and park all the funds in the SWF?” “The Government can then use these funds to finance this deficit instead of borrowing and depending on external grant."